Saving Water: What If Everyone Did That? Drought Issues Would Be Finished While We Wait For Rain 

Saving Water: What If Everyone Did That? Drought Issues Would Be Mitigated 

You are one person, so you might feel that there’s nothing you can do about the drought situation. But you have the power in your hands to save a ton of water, and if EVERYONE did their part, we wouldn’t have as much of an issue (at least until the rain finally comes).

*Please note: these are rough estimates meant to give you inspiration to start conserving water if you aren’t already doing so.  These are not exact numbers, and your usage or experience (as well as length of time on any activity) will naturally vary. These estimates are based on averages rather than exact numbers. 

This article will detail approximately how much water one person can save in their own life in one week, and it’s easier than you think. What does it take? Mindfulness. Reminding yourself when you approach the faucet to remember what to do. This is an example of what one person can do if they try to save water.

So we had a reader write in to let us know what they’ve been doing to conserve water.

First, every time they brush their teeth (at least twice a day but usually four times), they turn the water off until they’re ready to rinse (wetting the brush at the beginning, then the faucet goes off). If brushing your teeth usually takes 3 minutes, let’s say, while the faucet uses 2-3 gallons per minute, then each time you do this, you save 9 gallons.

If you brush your teeth four times a day as you should, you would then save 36 gallons per day. This is 252 gallons a week.

This same individual also saves water shaving. Shaving takes about 5-10 minutes each time, and most men shave every day. That comes out to a daily water savings of 21 gallons per day if you average seven minutes per shave. If you don’t shave on the weekends, you’ll save at least 105 gallons per week.

If you have a low flow toilet vs a regular flow toilet, you’re already saving 4.3 gallons per flush. If you flush four times a day, you’ll save 17.2 gallons a day. If you use the bathroom to urinate seven times a day, that’s another 30.1 gallons, for a weekly savings of 331.1 gallons. If you don’t have a low flow toilet, it might be a good idea to get one.

Same thing if you have a low flow shower head. A regular showerhead uses 4.75 gallons per minute, versus a low flow showerhead which uses 2.11 gallons a minute. So if you have a low flow head, you’re using 31.65 gallons in a 15 minute shower versus 71.25 gallons. If you can cut your shower time down to 10 minutes, you’d use 21.1 gallons or 47.5 gallons in your daily shower. However, for those who can’t reduce their shower time, they’ll still be saving 39.6 gallons per day with a low flow showerhead. In a week, that’s 277.2 gallons.

So, by doing each of the above water conserving activities, ONE person can save, all by themselves, 965.3 gallons of water a week. A family of four people doing this could save 3,961.2.

Advertisement

And finally, as the title says, What if everyone did that? If every single New York City resident implemented all of these things, 8.258 million city residents could save up to 31,885,789,600 gallons of water a week. That’s 31 billion gallons just by making changes that are relatively easy to make. It’s not really feasible to reduce bathroom visits, and everyone should shower daily to keep themselves healthy and clean. But low flow showerheads are easy to install, and it just takes a little mindfulness to change one’s shaving, tooth brushing, and shower habits. So, what if everyone really did that?

We would still certainly need rain. Rain dance ceremonies and rituals are still practiced by some tribes in the United States, with great respect and, often, effectiveness, and everyone should pray that it rains in Upstate New York where the city’s reservoirs are. If we had just one big storm, with 3 inches of rain like on September 29th (whether that 3 inches is in a few minutes or throughout the day), we could catch up to previous year’s regular rainfall of this season. Then the drought would be over and reservoirs would be full once more. Let’s all hope it rains soon.

Banner Image: Rain falling upstate. Image Credit – Filip Zrnzević