American's use so much water! I didn't realize how odd it was to take a 15 minute shower everyday or wash my clothing after wearing it for an hour until I moved to Italy in 2004. I found myself sharing a six bedroom house with one shower and 13 women. We were all international students living on a very tight budget. I was one of only three American's living in the house. I experienced my first wake up call when we were trying to work out a shower schedule and I had it brought to my attention that I used the shower for much, much longer than everyone else. My European roommates were able to shower in under six minutes and it was considered more than enough time. They quickly schooled me that water is expensive and it is rude to use too much. I was in culture shock but wanted to be a good roommate and I did what it took to keep my shower time around six minutes.
The next shock came when it was time to do my laundry, it was €8 per load! Woah! Not expecting laundry to be so expensive, I reevaluate how clean my clothing was and only washed what really needed it. The reality of waters true cost was settling with me. I realized how lucky I was living in Arizona to have relatively inexpensive clean water access. I mean its a desert, it barely rains, and my water bill is my least expensive bill! Thank you government subsidy.
This concept stuck with me when I returned to the U.S. I noticed I used much less than those around me. I started asking questions about water.
*Where is our water coming from?
*How much water do Arizonan's use?
*Why is it so inexpensive compared to other countries?
In Arizona we act like water can not be wasted. We water our lawns to a bright green year round, we love our swimming pools and golf courses, and our agricultural habits show no sign of change based on current water trends. This is scary and wrong. In the Phoenix area it has rained twice in 2014. We should be panicked, we should be in drought mode, but no...we carry on as if nothing is wrong. IT'S SCARY!!! The US Water Footprint is huge and yet there is some strange culturally engrained idea, that there will always be more water; some odd belief that we are exceptional and water scarcity is only an issue from those in less developed countries. I worry how ever growing populations and wasteful water practices will impact us in the not so distant future. There are human, environmental, and economic consequences to our waste. Water scarcity will bring war, famine, and disease. Why haven't people woken up?
Check out this quick video to help quantify just how much water the average American uses:
Some scientific reading and statistics on water for anyone interested in reading more: http://www.waterfootprint.org/Reports/Hoekstra_and_Chapagain_2007.pdf
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Waste Part Two
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