The View from a Drawbridge

The random musings of an autistic bridgetender with entirely too much time on her hands.

What’s Your Water Mark?

July 24, 2016

I came across some disturbing statistics on the National Geographic website just now. It takes 37 gallons of water to produce the average cup of coffee. Think of that next time, and every time, you drink one. If we each drank a cup of coffee each morning, it would use up 32 trillion gallons of…

I came across some disturbing statistics on the National Geographic website just now. It takes 37 gallons of water to produce the average cup of coffee. Think of that next time, and every time, you drink one. If we each drank a cup of coffee each morning, it would use up 32 trillion gallons of water a year.

Even scarier, 1 pound of beef requires 1,799 gallons of water. One cup of wine takes up 63.4 gallons of water. And lest you think that eating healthier gives you a free pass, 1 pound of soybeans takes 216 gallons of water. And (God forgive me) 1 pound of chocolate requires 3,170 gallons of water.

I’m feeling slightly sick to my stomach, thinking of all that water usage as I walk down the aisles of my grocery store. And there are so many stores, and so many of us. Water is not the infinite resource that we first-worlders would like to think that it is.

I feel really helpless when I look at the world’s environmental problems. The only thing I can really do is my part, plus spread the word to encourage others to do theirs.

One really eye-opening web page is the homewaterworks calculator. Go there, answer some basic questions about your water usage, and it comes up with a nifty spreadsheet for you that gives you an estimate of how much water you use per day and per year and in what parts of the house, how much energy you use to heat your water, and how you compare to other households in your geographic area.

I was actually kind of thrilled to discover that I use a little less than the typical water-wise house. But then I realized that that probably has less to do with my overall efficiency than it does with the fact that I live alone.

It also gives you recommendations on how to decrease your water usage. For example, replace old toilets and use more efficient appliances. Sadly I’m a renter, and am kind of stuck with using what they give me, but if and when I ever own a home again, all my appliances will be much more eco-friendly.

It is really important that we all educate ourselves about water usage. It’s even more important that we alter our behaviors. Our window of opportunity to get this right is rapidly closing.

water

5 responses to “What’s Your Water Mark?”

Delta Landscape

Jul 24, 2016 at 1:50 pm

Thanks for sharing this! I’ve thought for a while it would be great if someone made a little fixture attachment that would show you how much water you are using in real time from the faucet/showerhead and also display total amount of water used per month/year/all time. Tracking consumption and being aware of it I think is such a critical first step in conservation. We can’t know what we use if we aren’t keeping track! Also, thanks for sharing What Three Words. What a fun (and potentially useful?) way to consider geography!

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1. The View from a Drawbridge
  
  Jul 24, 2016 at 5:28 pm
  
  That’s a great idea! You should patent that. And yes, What Three Words is pretty amazing. 🙂
  
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CalicoJack

Jul 26, 2016 at 10:48 pm

Howdy!

If water was more difficult to use, we would use a lot less. I’ve lived in developing countries and had to be cautious about water because it is not clean. I’ve carried water and relied on delivered water. If we had to work harder for our water, we would appreciate water scarcity more.

Thanks for writing this post.

Huzzah!
Jack

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1. The View from a Drawbridge
  
  Jul 27, 2016 at 8:28 am
  
  Thanks Jack!
  We are a spoiled, water bloated society, and someday we’ll regret that.
  
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“Wasteful!” – The View from a Drawbridge

Jun 14, 2018 at 12:01 am

[…] environmentally destructive animals on the planet. He was carrying a Starbucks coffee. It takes 37 gallons of water to produce one cup of coffee. I’m quite sure his computer uses much more electricity than the […]

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The View from a Drawbridge

The random musings of an autistic bridgetender with entirely too much time on her hands.

What’s Your Water Mark?

Even scarier, 1 pound of beef requires 1,799 gallons of water. One cup of wine takes up 63.4 gallons of water. And lest you think that eating healthier gives you a free pass, 1 pound of soybeans takes 216 gallons of water. And (God forgive me) 1 pound of chocolate requires 3,170 gallons of water.

I’m feeling slightly sick to my stomach, thinking of all that water usage as I walk down the aisles of my grocery store. And there are so many stores, and so many of us. Water is not the infinite resource that we first-worlders would like to think that it is.

I feel really helpless when I look at the world’s environmental problems. The only thing I can really do is my part, plus spread the word to encourage others to do theirs.

I was actually kind of thrilled to discover that I use a little less than the typical water-wise house. But then I realized that that probably has less to do with my overall efficiency than it does with the fact that I live alone.

It is really important that we all educate ourselves about water usage. It’s even more important that we alter our behaviors. Our window of opportunity to get this right is rapidly closing.

Like this:

5 responses to “What’s Your Water Mark?”

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

The random musings of an autistic bridgetender with entirely too much time on her hands.

What’s Your Water Mark?

Even scarier, 1 pound of beef requires 1,799 gallons of water. One cup of wine takes up 63.4 gallons of water. And lest you think that eating healthier gives you a free pass, 1 pound of soybeans takes 216 gallons of water. And (God forgive me) 1 pound of chocolate requires 3,170 gallons of water.

I’m feeling slightly sick to my stomach, thinking of all that water usage as I walk down the aisles of my grocery store. And there are so many stores, and so many of us. Water is not the infinite resource that we first-worlders would like to think that it is.

I feel really helpless when I look at the world’s environmental problems. The only thing I can really do is my part, plus spread the word to encourage others to do theirs.

I was actually kind of thrilled to discover that I use a little less than the typical water-wise house. But then I realized that that probably has less to do with my overall efficiency than it does with the fact that I live alone.

It is really important that we all educate ourselves about water usage. It’s even more important that we alter our behaviors. Our window of opportunity to get this right is rapidly closing.

Like this:

5 responses to “What’s Your Water Mark?”

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

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