Short on Water, Long on Want
by author Michelle Hancock

A pending water crisis threatens world health, according to a United Nations-sponsored water forum held on Aug. 13, 2001. The UN told participants that about 450 million people in 29 countries already face water shortages, and unless governments find new ways to conserve trickling water supplies, one in three people could be affected by 2025.

The regions expected to be hit the hardest include Asia, sub-Sahara Africa, the Middle East, India, Pakistan and China. Although Canada accounts for less than one per cent of the world’s population, we are lucky to be home to about nine per cent of the earth’s fresh water reserves. Yet Canadian water isn’t unlimited. Increased domestic use and expected foreign demand is turning our water into "the new oil," as labelled by Dutch crown prince Willem-Alexander.

From 1950 to 2000, Canada more than doubled in population from 13.7 to 30.2 million. But our total water use from all sources increased five-fold during the same time period-from 13.2 to 73.1 cubic kilometres in volume. Our water consumption for drinking, irrigation and other uses, which doesn’t flow back into waterways, jumped between six and seven fold from 2.3 to 15.2 cubic kilometres.

While Canadians must encourage the federal government to preserve our water from further misuse and exportation, there are also ways we can personally help save what we’ve got:

• Use full loads only in dishwashers and washing machines. Each load eliminated saves 170 to 190 litres of water.
• Take shorter showers: saves six to 19 litres per minute.
• Install low-flow showerheads: saves up to 10 litres per minute.
• Fix leaking toilets and faucets. A leaky toilet wastes up to 160 litres of water daily. A tap that drips once every second wastes 25 litres of water daily.
• Replace your old toilet with a low-flush (six litres per flush) model: saves up to 24 litres per flush.
• Don’t use the toilet as a wastebasket: saves six to 30 litres per flush.
• Keep a jug of water in the fridge to avoid letting the water run cold.
• Turn the tap off while washing dishes, brushing your teeth or shaving.
• Install a spring-loaded nozzle on your hose so that water doesn’t run when unneeded.
• Sprinkle lawns for one hour or less, no more than twice a week. Most lawns need watering only once a week to a depth of about 2.5 centimetres.
• Water lawns before 11 am and after 5 pm to reduce evaporation loss.
• Collect rainfall to water plants.

M Hancock

Source: alive #232, February 2002