Why do we waste water?

Greetings dear friends.

In my city we have had water supply problems for a long time, first of all because the place where I live is a peninsula with low rainfall, where there are no fresh water bodies large enough and the few desalination plants do not meet the water demand of the region, so most of the water we consume is pumped from another city. And when pumping failures occur, they have left us without supply for more than 15 days, so let's just say that many of us here have learned to use it consciously.

A car wash with a hose consumes a lot of water. Source: pxfuel.com.

However it is not uncommon to find people who waste water, for example a neighbor washed his car with a hose and when he did not use the water he let it run, but there are also other forms of waste that are less obvious, for example, many people when brushing their teeth or shaving do not turn off the tap, Others soap and rinse one dish at a time, when it saves a lot of water to soap them all first and then rinse them together, and not to mention those who take long showers, if we take into account that it takes less than a minute to fill a gallon of water, you can imagine the water used in a 20-minute shower.

Long showers are a common cause of water wastage. Source: pixabay.com.

Other ways to waste water is to wash small amounts of clothes in the washing machine, or use the toilet as a wastebasket; on average a toilet tank can consume between 8 and 10 liters of water per flush, and there are people capable of using all this amount of water to throw away a paper towel. There are even ways that perhaps go unnoticed, such as defrosting food by placing it in a bowl with plenty of water, letting the water run in the shower while waiting for the hot water to come out, or not using the water that condenses in air conditioners.

According to the WHO, 100 L of water per day is enough for a person to satisfy all their hygiene and consumption needs and avoid health problems, but if we take into account some actions such as the above, it is easy to realize that with a 20-minute shower we are already using that amount if we do not turn off the shower during that time.

And the truth is that with simple actions such as taking short showers, using a glass to brush, placing a bottle of water inside the toilet tank, avoiding dripping faucets, recycling water from washing clothes, we will be saving a significant amount of water per day.

A dripping faucet wastes a lot of water each day. Source: pixabay.com.

I consider that a very probable cause of water wastage is to believe that it is an unlimited resource, at the beginning I said that in my city we take into account the problems caused by the limited availability of water, but there are other regions with an abundant supply, and that gives us the feeling that it is available in an unlimited way.

Another reason is that we also consider it cheap, at least in Venezuela the water service is very cheap, that gives us the feeling that it does not cost much to make it drinkable and put it in our homes, I am sure that where the water service is more expensive people save as much as possible their consumption.

And finally it is a matter of education, I am teaching my son not to waste it and the consequences of not having water, that he should consider it a blessing because there are places that do not even have access to clean water or basic sanitation services.

In the future it will be a real challenge to supply water to growing populations, so it is a responsibility of all of us to ensure that at least on our own we do not waste it by acquiring good habits of use.

Well friends, I hope you keep in mind that with simple habits we can make a big difference, and even if we consider ourselves responsible consumers, there are still ways in which we can be consuming a lot of water without even realizing it.

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Thanks for coming by to read friends, I hope you liked the information. See you next time.

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