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Clean drinking water is becoming more precious than gold
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It seems ironic that precious metals, energy resources, and our lifestyles are negatively impacting the one resource that all life depends upon. Clean drinking water is becoming scarce and a precious commodity. Is it more precious than gold?
Coloradoans live in the heart of one of the largest watersheds in the world. Any resident living near the Rocky Mountains is in close proximity to a creek, river or stream that will lead to other rivers that provide water to millions of people throughout the Midwest and Western U.S. Yet one of the biggest resources that brought white settlers and prospectors here was the land of riches. They came for gold, silver, and many other precious metals. Today metals, fossil fuels, and uranium are still a hot commodity in Colorado, but so is water. Those metals and fuels in turn can contaminate the water all life depends upon. However, the focus of this article is on water consumption and what we can do to conserve and protect it.
How much water do we use?
Americans give little thought to the scarcity of clean water that actually exists on Planet Earth. While 75% of the planet is covered in water, only 1% of that water is potable. Water is used for much more than drinking and cooking. Here’s a daily per capita breakdown for the average U.S. single family home from Drinktap.org:
Bathing = 12.8 gallons
Laundry = 15.0 gallons
Toilets = 18.5 gallons
Dishwashers = 1.0 gallon
Leaks = 9.5 gallons
Faucets = 10.9 gallons
Other household uses = 1.6 gallons
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) our outdoor water use amounts to about 30% of all of our household water consumption (lawns, gardens, washing cars, etc.). Meanwhile agriculture, responsible for growing our world’s food, uses about 60% of all fresh water on the planet to irrigate according the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Energy production uses a great deal of water. According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) biodiesel and ethanol use a greatest amount of water in their production. However, they are used primarily to fuel vehicles on a much smaller scale in this country. Meanwhile we primarily use fossil fuels to produce energy for electricity and transportation.
Nuclear power = 31.0 - 74.9 K
Petroleum/oil-electric = 15.5 – 31.2 K
Fossil fuel thermal electric = 14.2 – 28.4 K
Coal = 530 – 2,100
Hydroelectric = 260
While that glistening snow on the mountains becomes our water source in the spring, it is shared by millions of people not residing in Colorado. We use the water and it is treated or it runs off into drains. Where does it all go?
Water Runoff
According to the EPA water runoff is one of the leading causes of water pollution. There are many hazardous chemicals in runoff that we intentionally or unintentionally place in the drains and sewage that will eventually end up in our oceans creating dead zones, no swimming zones, chemical spills, and continents of plastic. It’s occurring all over the world. While we may want to point the fingers at China, India, and Mexico, the fact is that they make the products we throw away. Shouldn’t we be pointing the fingers right back at ourselves? We are only 5% of the global population and use 25% of the world’s resources.
While much of the runoff pollution is from agricultural sources (pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and pathogens from livestock manure), urban/suburban runoff is the third leading cause of water pollution (pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, fossil fuels, household chemicals, pet waste, salts, heavy metals, and even pharmaceuticals).
The New York Times reported in 2007 that our prescriptions and personal care products (PPCP) are polluting our waterways. Sewage treatment only treats for pathogens not the chemicals we place in and on our bodies. These build up in the waterways and end up in the oceans. Will this in fact keep the fish from being depressed and give them silky scales? The results are much more devastating and may inflict wildlife with deformities like “intersex fish” according to the USGS.
All of the sludge, slime, trash, and toxins end up in our oceans, which pollutes the very water that humans and other species need for survival. The oceans not only are a huge source for food but they also control the climate of our planet. Pollution (air, water, and ground) are negatively impacting our oceans. Coral reefs are dying, wildlife is dying from dehydration due to swallowing plastics, and whole species of fish and other wildlife are disappearing with barely a whisper. Are we ultimately creating our own extinction? Will we lose our clean drinking water?
Owning Water
In the U.S. we have the luxury of turning on the tap and filling up a glass of clean water delivered directly into our homes. Some of us receive water from a city water system, but many more of us receive water from private wells and aquifers. Aquifers and wells are in danger of being depleted due to drought, over consumption, or being contaminated by oil, natural gas, and other mining operations.
Colorado is unlike the rest of the U.S. when it comes to water rights, individuals have few rights. Many Coloradoans know that when they purchase a piece of land they own the surface soil and any water deep underground (which requires a permit to drill) but that’s about it. The minerals below are generally owned by others (mining claims and natural gas claims) and the water that may run across it is owned by someone downstream and may be used but not diverted. This also includes collecting rainwater and snow melt off the roof of your home or on the surface of your property. Remember that Colorado provides drinking water to millions to the West and to the East from the majestic Rocky Mountains. Learn more about Colorado’s water laws here.
This examiner attended the Colorado Environmental Film Festival this past weekend and viewed a documentary called Tapped on the ownership and negative impacts bottled water has on our pocketbooks, environment, and human health. The film focuses on three major multi-national corporations that are buying land with aquifers or sucking city water to resell at a profit that earns these companies billions of dollars a year. Few of these companies are being taxed to take the water, which is called water mining. According to the film these corporations don’t limit their water mining, even in times of drought, when residents are asked to cut back on water usage while their reservoirs dry up.
The second negative impact in the film is the plastic bottles in which the water is packaged. These bottles contain toxins like benzene which cause cancers and birth defects. Last year a study found that bisphenol A (BPA) is a toxin found in poly carbonate (hard plastic bottles) that can interfere with hormones in developing children. Soft plastic bottles (PET) containing benzene should not be heated or kept in a hot car. (Toxins could lead to cancer and birth defects.) They should not be burned, yet they are every year in municipal incinerators without much thought of potential consequences.
However, ownership of water is becoming a huge issue throughout the world. Drought is ravaging many regions of the world including China, India, and many areas in Africa, Australia, and the U.S. Some fear that wars will break out over water in the near future. While in fact wars have already being fought over water, as was the case in 2000 in Bolivia. The country fought a multi-national corporation (Bechtel) when they dammed up the river and turned around and sold the water back to the impoverished farmers at a profit.
While some may argue there are no water wars, look closely. It’s the small communities of many countries, even the U.S. and especially areas of great poverty that battle for clean water and the right to have access to it. (Native people in Ecuador are suffering with polluted wells due to illegal dumping of chemicals by an American oil company according to the New York Times.)
Currently, according to the World Water Council, the number of people who lack access to clean drinking water globally is 1.1 billion and 1.8 million people, mostly children, die a year from diseases due to poor sanitation and water quality. While some clean water issues are due to poor sanitation and drought, others are due to the contamination by industry and by us.
What can you do?
While the USGS reported in 2005 that water use had declined by 30% since 1975, even though population increased, water use is now on the rise. However, U.S. residents are conserving water, especially in drought stricken areas, but water consumption goes beyond the home and it impacts everyone on the planet.
As this examiner has advised before, there are many ways to conserve water at home:
- Repair leaking faucets and toilets
- Replace water hog toilets with efficient toilets or don’t use fresh water for flushing at all by using a composting toilet
- Limit flushing: If it’s yellow let it mellow. If it’s brown flush it down.
- Don’t let water run when it is not in use
- Limit time in showers and turn off the water when you are not needing to rinse
- Find out if you are allowed to reuse gray water in your area and find out about gray water recycling to irrigate non-edible plants
- Replace Kentucky bluegrass with buffalo grass or other drought tolerant grasses or replace with xeriscaping using native flowers and grasses
- Use drip irrigation or other low water use irrigation
- Wash you car at a car wash that recycles its water
While conserving water is great, more water is used in making energy and products, including food. According to the United Nations Environment Program, worldwide industry consumes 20% of our fresh water producing paper, plastics, textiles, and many other products. The rise in water consumption may have more to do with the energy and products we consume than the water we use in our households.
Here are some green tips for consumers to save money, water, and the environment:
The number one green tip for the millennium: Stop buying bottled water!
- Try to grow, can, and dry your own food or join a community garden using water wise irrigation
- Grow native trees and vegetation to prevent erosion and excessive runoff
- Limit use of fertilizer on your lawns
- Clean up after your pets
- Be responsible and recycle vehicle wastes like fluids, tires, and batteries at a certified recycler
- Buy only what you need
- Read the labels of everything you purchase. Is it environmentally friendly, ethical, and efficient? Recycle, reuse, reduce
- Are there other options? Do you absolutely require a certain chemical or medication? Get a second opinion.
- Dispose expired medications responsibly
- Turn off appliances and lights when not in use, including those with phantom loads
- Carpool and use alternative transportation
- Buy organic foods grown in the U.S. or even locally using water wise practices
- Stay informed about water issues that impact your community
- Never dump chemicals or raw sewage down an outdoor drain for runoff
Remember that each and every one of us has an impact on our planet. What we do may seem to be “out of sight and out of mind”, but now the results of our lifestyles are now catching up with us in the degradation of the environment and our clean water supplies.
Water is a precious resource that all life relies on and without it gold is worthless.
Learn more about protecting and conserving water with the Keep It Clean Partnership in Boulder.
Want to learn more about global water issues? Check out www.hcourtyoung.com.
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What’s new with Michele?
Michele is planning to attend the upcoming Colorado Interfaith Power & Light Climate Change conference 11/13-14. Learn more at www.coipl.org.
Upcoming stories:
Women in Sustainable Energy and inside information on the PUC, The latest with the Green Tech Meet Up, and the Interfaith Climate Change conference.
If you have a green story, idea, home or business you would like Michele to feature, please contact her at: mspencr@ix.netcom.com.
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