Thirsty?

In this article by Bary Katz over at The Future is Green we are reminded once again of the pitiful job mainstream media is doing at keeping us apprised of the challenges we face. We are still flushing our toilets with fresh, treated, drinking water while;

"... 12 million people die each year due to lack of access to clean water. A child dies every six seconds for lack of access to clean water."

You might say "but what can we do about water in the developing world, we are not going to ship vast quantities over seas are we?"

"... this is not just a Third World problem. Huge swaths of the United States are currently facing severe water shortages. Maude Barlow writes in Blue Covenant that in 2007, " Lake Superior, the world's largest freshwater lake, dropped to its lowest level in eighty years. . . . California has a twenty-year supply of freshwater left. New Mexico has only a ten-year supply. Arizona is out: it now import all of its drinking water."

Barlow also notes that the U.S. Geological Survey found that "the parched Interior West is probably the driest it has been in five hundred years." This is more than a drought. We are running out of water."

We rely on huge quantities of water, not just to flush away our waste but also to grow the food we eat. This is clearly not some passing perturbation;

"The WorldWatch Institute has called water scarcity 'the most underappreciated global environmental challenge of our time.'"

A loo made of poo makes energy for you

Continuing the theme of respecting water that I laid out in my previous post "Some thoughts about water". Thanks to Worldchanging for the heads up on this innovative design.

Some thoughts about water

Growing up in the US I never saw a house without a water meter, unless there was no water supply. This was the case where I lived in New Mexico where all the water I used, though free, had to be carried up the hill in 5 gallon containers. While carrying 85 pounds of water up a hill was good physical conditioning this was a particularly strong incentive to conserve. Some of the first permaculture principles I ever saw put into action were on that land. My roommate built swales to halt rainwater runoff and direct it the pinion pines.

The western US has a long and interesting relationship with water. Personal rainwater harvesting was illegal until recently in the state of Colorado, where hundred year old water rights and laws are still in effect. It still is illegal in the state of Washington. The idea being that by interrupting the flow of water from my roof to the watershed I would be “stealing” water from the rightful owner, whoever held the rights to that watershed. Nevermind that I would be using it very efficiently and the rightful owner, probably a farmer or mining operation might be wasting it extravagantly. This is an unfortunate situation because simply by using water where it falls from the sky the carbon footprint is lower than using water that has to be purified, and pumped through miles of leaky water pipes. This is especially true in the UK where about a third of the water in the system is lost through leaky mains. (Harris and Borer 2005 p.279)

When I first moved to the UK I was astounded to discover that most homes don’t even have water meters. While this could be seen as a convenience it removes incentive to conserve. To borrow a concept from business management, you can’t manage what you don’t measure! Installing a meter, which should be free from your water company, will provide a incentive to conserve and will allow you to pay only for what you use. Typically a household that installs a meter will see a 30% reduction in water use. (Harris and Borer 2005 p.279)

As the UK sees more water restrictions due to changing weather patterns brought on by climate change there will be increased impetus to conserve. Mains water supply uses significant amounts of electricity to purify and pump and using pure water to flush toilets is wasteful. The trick is to find ways to cut usage without investment in expensive equipment that counteracts the savings. In subsequent posts I’ll discuss simple methods for doing just that.

References:
Harris, C. and Borer, P. 1998 - The Whole House Book; Ecological Building Design and Materials 2nd edition,