Good water practices to help climate change and water scarcity crisis efforts
- Shreya Sekar
- Apr 30, 2022
- 6 min read
In our last meeting we discussed the major impacts climate change has had on our planet and some practical ways we can reduce our carbon footprint which in turn prevents the issue from becoming worse than it already is. Another thing our club has is our annual water walk event coming up soon where we do a walk to raise awareness about the struggles those in poverty have to go through just to access water. While the two issues our events aim to help are separate in their own regards and may seem entirely different from each other. In actuality there are some areas in which the two intersect. One of these being the preventative measures we as young adults can take to aid these movements. Personally, I think that one of the best things we can do to aid relief efforts is monitoring and modifying our own water use practices. In this blog post, I hope to give you some practices that you can adopt into your own life that will help with dealing with both the climate change and water scarcity crisis.
1. Don’t run the water unnecessarily while shower, brushing teeth, or doing something that requires water use
Something I think we have all been guilty of is using water for a lot longer than actually needed, especially during activities such as brushing our teeth and taking showers. For me I know that sometimes I do this without even thinking about it, almost as if it is just a reflex. Running water unnecessarily here and there might seem harmless at that given moment, but if you add up the amount of water that gets wasted during this time it accumulates to be a lot. In order to avoid that one practice we can all implement into our lives is consciously monitoring the amount of water we use during every activity. I understand that this is easier said than done, but here is one activity that I think can help kickstart more healthier water use practices.
First start your day with thinking and jotting down either day to day, morning, or night routine (whichever is the most structured or when you think you use the most water) and what of those things require you to use water. Then break down each activity that requires you to use water and reflect on each step whether or not you need to use water during that.
For me this would look something like this:
My morning routine: 1) Brush Teeth, 2) Wash my face, 3) Eat breakfast, 4) Do my dishes from breakfast, 5)Take a shower, 6) Pack my bag, 7) Leave for class,
Water use during the morning: 2) Wash my face, 4) Do the dishes, 5) Take a shower
Breakdown of each activity:
Brush teeth → 1) Put toothpaste on brush, 2) Rinse brush, 3) Brush teeth, 4) Rinse out mouth
When does the water need to be running: Rinsing brush and rinsing mouth
When does the water not need to be on: Putting toothpaste on brush and during the actual brushing of teeth
Wash face → 1) Splash water on face, 2) Apply creams and soaps, 3) Wash off the creams and soaps,
When does the water need to be running: Splashing water on my face and washing off the creams and soaps
When does the water not need to be on: Applying the creams on my face
Do the dishes → 1) Put dish soap on my dishes, 2) Scrub dishes, 3) Run the dishes in water, 4) Wipe the dishes, 5) Let them dry
When does the water need to be running: Running the dishes in water
When does the water not need to be on: Putting soap on my dishes, Scrubbing the dishes, Wiping the dishes, Letting them dry
Take a shower → 1)Rinse body, 2) Apply soap, 3) Wash soap, 4) Put shampoo in hair, 4) Wash shampoo off, 5) Put conditioner in hair, 6) Wash conditioner off
When does the water need to be running: Rinse body, Wash Soap, Wash shampoo off,Wash conditioner off
When does the water not need to be on: Apply soap, Put shampoo in hair, Put conditioner on
The point of this activity is to point out exactly when you need to use water during your day. Although it might seem silly to write out the steps for something as basic as brushing your teeth, sometimes it really helps to physically see when exactly you need water or not. Then based on this analysis you can make a conscious effort to cut out unnecessary water use in the steps that do not require you to have the water on. I would highly recommend taking the time to write this out and then keeping it somewhere that you can look at later on as a reminder to not waste water and only use it when you need it.
2. Make conscious effort to shorten and lessen the amount of time you use water during the day
Another tendency a lot of people have is keeping the water on for longer than needed especially during showers or baths. Every once in a while it might be nice to have a long relaxing shower, however it is extremely important that this does not happen every day and to avoid that habit from forming here is one strategy that you can try.
Use a timer to see how long a typical shower, bath, or face wash takes, and other major water use activities.
Based on this time you can gage whether you take just the right amount of time for it or spend way too much time
NOTE: For all activities its best to keep it between 2 to 5 minutes to conserve water (even for showers)
If you spend too much time, then use a timer to limit yourself. It may be unrealistic to completely cut down the length of time with just one day so do it in increments
For example: Everyday give yourself one minute less than the day before until you reached the desired amount of time, Keep the timer going even after you hit the desired amount of time so that you can maintain this time
Note: It is probably best to start doing this by using a traditional timer whether it be a physical one or an app on your phone so that you can stick to the allocated time. Once you get better at it perhaps you can change the time to something else like the length of a song that is around the desired time.
3. Continue learning more about both issues
As with all global issues it is important to make sure that you are consistently keeping up with the latest findings. Keeping up with the latest information in real time helps you stay informed about what is going on in the world, but also helps you understand what exactly you can do. To do this I would highly recommend going on to credible new source websites and checking out their articles, videos, and news streams on TV as often as possible so that you know what is going on in the world. With that though comes great responsibility, make sure that the website you use has a record of being a reliable and credible news source, and not an obscure site that could possibly be spreading false information for views or clickbait. Once you have gained this in depth understanding of these issues then you can then spread knowledge to other people and get them on board with aiding missions and taking action to prevent these issues from worsening. Spreading knowledge is a powerful thing, but it should only be done after intensive and well thought out research is conducted.
As always with the blog posts we have shared this semester these are only a few things that you can do. There are most definitely several other things that one can do to help out climate change and water scarcity crisis efforts. You might find some other strategies that you think are more effective and practical to implement into your life. If so please share them with us so that we can do our part in helping these movements.
References
Comments