Water, a key element to our lives and that of the Earth, is the most accessible thing in our homes. However, it remains important to understand the real situation of this consumption, which is still very uneven internationally.
According to the WHO, 2.2 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water services. Of those affected, 7 out of 10 people live in rural areas and one third in the least developed countries. One of the reasons for this lack of access to drinking water is mainly due to the lack of adequate facilities to treat water.
According to the UN, Western countries will begin to experience water shortages by 2050. What are the reasons for this?
- Population growth: there will be 9 billion people on Earth, which will lead to an increase in demand for water.
- Economic growth: agricultural production will increase and will require fresh water
What are the possible solutions on my scale?
At our scale, daily actions can be reviewed. The majority of French people know them but they can hardly be established in our comfortable routine.
Several simple habits can be taken to reduce water consumption such as:
- Prefer showers to baths: A shower consumes an average of 60 and 75 litres of water compared to 150 and 200 litres of water.
- Repairing tap water leaks or flushing: A leaky faucet can cause you to lose up to 120L of water per day. And for a flush, up to 600 L of water.
- Buying upcycled clothes or vintage: as we know, the fashion industry weighs heavily for water consumption. Between 7000 and 10,000 L of water are needed to produce 1 jeans. Knowing that about 2.3 billion jeans are produced worldwide, I'll let you do the math. And to this, we add the contamination of the water due to tanning jeans…"
- Collect rainwater: for those lucky enough to have a balcony or garden where it is easier to collect water from the rains, simply put a basin to collect that water.
- For the more do-it-yourselfers, there is a way to recover rainwater that can be used for watering in the garden, swimming pool or even flushing. Here is a video that explains how here.
- Using 100% recycled paper is better! Or washable fabric paper for small commissions. What for? It takes between 160 and 250 litres of water to make 1 roll of toilet paper.
- Make your washing machines: a full washing machine consumes an average of 50L of water so it is better to fill it.
Our water is precious, let's save it while we can. 😊