With spring and summer just around the corner, it’s easy to get lost thinking about all the fun warm-weather activities you and your family will be able to enjoy soon.
But before the dog days of summer get here, World Water Day will be happening, and this is a perfect time for people to learn about the global water crisis, and find out what they can do to help prevent water shortages and droughts before the heat of summer arrives.
Participating in World Water Day
If you’re an average American family of four, then your household uses about 400 gallons of water per day. Over 100 of those gallons are literally flushed down the toilet, which means that just changing a few simple habits around the house can help reduce the water demand in this country. Here are some ways you and your family can help the conservation effort:
- Flush the toilet less often (let it mellow if it’s yellow)
- Use rain barrels to collect precipitation to use in the garden
- Collect grey water (water from washing dishes, doing laundry, and bathing) to use in the garden
- Shut off the taps when you’re washing, brushing, and cleaning things like dishes, hands, and teeth
- Take shorter showers
- Go to a car wash that recycles water, or find a waterless cleaner for the car
- Remove your grass and replace it with mulch, rock gardens, or a drought-resistant option
- Use low water settings for smaller laundry loads
Conserving Water Every Day
Modern plumbing makes people’s lives extremely convenient: there’s potable water flowing freely from the taps, safe water you can use to bathe, clean, and cook with, and even water in the toilet tank to remove waste from the house and keep cities sanitary. But plumbing problems happen, and that means wasted water. So what plumbing tasks can you take on around the house to help? Here are a couple:
- Insulate your hot water pipes so that water gets to the faucets faster
- Never use the toilet to flush waste or garbage: it can waste as much as 7 gallons per flush, and you could clog the pipes
- Inspect regularly for leaks, and fix leaks, drips, and other problems right away
- Upgrade bathrooms and kitchens with low-flow and water-saving appliances and fixtures
- Place full water bottles in toilet tanks so each flush uses less water
Why Does the World Need a Water Day?
Of the 7.4 billion humans who live on this planet, 1 in 10 doesn’t have safe water nearby to drink, clean with, or bathe with. Many of those 663 million people have to travel far distances just to access clean water, and even then there are about 1.8 billion people whose water is contaminated and could cause diseases like polio and diphtheria.
This is what’s known as the global water crisis: a scarcity of clean water that affects people all over the world. That’s why World Water Day is held each March: to raise awareness and to help fight the water crisis by educating people and showing them how to use water more wisely.
Water demand and waste are big contributors to the world water crisis, so we here at All Purpose Plumbing are proud to do our part by participating in World Water Day this year, and by helping all our customers in and around the Tacoma, WA area to save water every day. For more information about this important day, or to schedule a leak detection or repair appointment, call 253-473-5100 now.