As a world, there are a lot of things that we use that comes naturally from the land that we live on. There are natural gases that can be used as fuel to heat and cool our homes, there are ores and minerals that are formed over thousands of years that we can harvest, and more. Conservation of these natural resources is extremely important for our future generations. What you may not know is that the one thing we absolutely need to work on conserving is our water supply. It is the one thing that we absolutely cannot live without.
The Importance of Water Conservation
Even though our world is made up of a lot of water, fresh water is something that is in limited supply. In fact, only about 3% of our water is drinkable and this amount often dwindles during times of drought. Of the 3% much of that fresh water is located within frozen glaciers and other ice formations. The rest of it is located underground. If all the drinkable water in our world disappeared at one time, we would all be dead within a matter of days. To prevent this from happening, we often filter out salt and other minerals to create more fresh water, but it is a process that is costly and time consuming.
Benefits of Conserving Water
Beyond saving the world from certain death, there are a lot of other benefits to putting more effort into water conservation. One of the biggest is the ability to help you save money since most areas charge you for the water that you use in your home. This is because creating more fresh water via treatment facilities is expensive for all areas of the world, but it is also because you can mess up your septic system by using a lot of water and this could cause ground water contamination if it overflows. Other benefits are much larger. It involves saving our aquatic environments and allows us to continue to grow food and raise animals for food.
Reclaimed Water?
One thing many are doing to help conserve fresh water is to reclaim water, but is it really “reclaimed”? Can we drink it safely? The truth is, reclaimed water is wastewater that we use for irrigation. It is clear and odorless but can also be cleaner than the water we have in our wells. There are some areas of the US that are trying to use reclaimed water as a part of the “drinkable” water supply. However, until it is absolutely certain that we can use reclaimed water for drinking and our survival, perhaps you should consider using it as a way to save fresh water around your home. For instance, there are companies like Earth Stone Water that help you decrease the fresh water use around your home. It is done by setting up tanks that catch water, filter it, and turn it into water that you use for landscaping. You save and put water into the ground where it can be filtered further naturally. Is this something you would consider doing?