Each American uses an average of 88 gallons of water a day at home, which is a stunning stat considering that if all U.S. households installed water-saving features, water use would decrease by 30%, saving an estimated 5.4 billion gallons per day. Water is essential to life, and preserving the quality of fresh water is important for the drinking-water supply, food production and recreational water use. As we focus more on going green, we often forget that a core component of that is working to preserve our Earth’s precious resources, namely water, in order to not only conserve it but ensure that the entire global population has access to it.

Understanding the Importance of Managing Clean Water

In many developing countries, the only way to get safe drinking water is through private vendors, who charge up to ten times more than what regular piped water would cost. In many African cities, up to 80% of the population gets their water this way, which begs the question of how can water be better managed to ensure a sufficient supply for the growing population? To ensure this happens, the global population can make more of an effort to ensure their local governments are focusing on constructing better water points, developing water monitoring regulations, treating water sources better and more efficiently and linking global water use. If you feel that you cannot have an impact on the access to clean water around the world, you can start out by thinking small and local first in order to facilitate change within your community.

Conserving Water in Your Home

Access to clean water is a commodity most of us take for granted on a daily basis. However, once you understand the importance of managing clean water, you can begin to take small, actionable steps in your home to conserve and protect this natural resource.

Aside from the well-known tips of turning off the tap when brushing your teeth and taking shorter showers, you can do things such as investing in:

• Energy-efficient faucets
• Energy-efficient toilets and shower heads
• Fix leaky pipes
• Rainwater harvesting is another great way to conserve water while ensuring your plants are hydrated
• Taking your car to a car wash that recycles their water can save a ton on both water and energy.

Taking Care of the Molecule of Life

Water is so important that it is the first thing that astronauts look for when searching another planet for life form. As we are fortunate enough to live on a planet that is home to ample amounts of this natural resource, we should also be responsible enough to protect and conserve it. By engaging in various conservation techniques and participating in your local government in order to ensure that water all around the world is safe and accessible, you can make small changes every day that have a big impact in the long-run.

Information Provided By: Ali Metson.

Are you doing your part to conserve and make sure we have plenty of clean water for our children and all future generations?

Shared on Going Green Linky!