Why conserving water is important to our environment, future

  • Published
  • By Jerry McCall
  • JBSA-Fort Sam Houston Energy Manager
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas --  Why conserve water? It’s not the same as an exhaustible resource like coal or oil that is used once and gone forever. The water on earth today is the same water that was here when the dinosaurs roamed.

Although water is not destroyed when we use it, water has to go through treatment processes before it is fit to be reused. These process cycles might be natural cleansing through layers of soil or mechanical and chemical treatments.

One reason to conserve water is when water use increases, the treatments may not be able to keep up with demand.

Another reason to conserve water is the treatment requirements are expensive and time-consuming.

Water is considered an inexhaustible resource, but local supplies, whether from lakes and streams or aquifers, are not always renewable. Without proper use, they can be contaminated, lost through changes in climate or use can simply overtake replenishment.

Less than 2 percent of the earth’s water supply is fresh water, 97 percent is saltwater and only 1 percent is available for drinking.
Here are some interesting water usage facts:

• Every day in the U.S. we drink about 110 million gallons
• The average American uses 140-170 gallons per day
• It takes 1,075,000 gallons to grow enough food for an average family for a year.

What are some steps to take to conserve this precious resource? One way is to stop leaks. A leaky faucet can waste up to 100 gallons a day.

Another is to take shorter showers. A five-minute shower can take 15-25 gallons of water. A low-flow shower head would cut that in half.

Run dishwashers only when full; an automatic washer uses 9-12 gallons while washing the same amount of dishes by hand uses about 20 gallons. Also, the water from hand washing can be reused to water plants.

Lastly, turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth.