Drinking Water

Don't Drink the Water

This week's earlier posting (3/25/14) called Don't Drink the Water on my GoingTrueGreen Blog generated several questions for actual numbers related to our drinking water situation. Therefore, since finding all the facts in one place is not always possible, I am doing a follow up to provide that data and statistics so we can all go True Green and be a leader.

It is important to realize that these figures immediately relate to all of us and have already infiltrated our own backyards:

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The hardest fact to swallow (no pun intended) is how little water we have in this world that is drinkable. From all the water on our planet, 97.5% is salt water. That leaves us 2.5% of fresh water, but that is not all drinkable!

- Almost 70% of that 2.5% is frozen. Otherwise known as glacial ice.
- In addition, almost 30% of that 2.5% is in the ground.
- Thus leaving us LESS THAN 1% of clean drinkable water for our survival.
- Some calculations actually present .007% of clean water to drink.

One Drop of Oil

How does this data relate to you and me?
Have you spilled just one drop of oil in your backyard? Some gasoline or lighter fluid?
One drop of oil, just like most pollution we create, will contaminate and render over 6 gallons of clean drinking water, undrinkable. Okay, but so far we still have clean drinking water. Pause for one minute and think about the issues for our neighbors along the gulf and all they have gone (still going) through because of the oil spill. Think about municipalities closing wells because of fertilizer and that one drop of spilled oil that went through the ground and into your drinkable water (water table) under the ground. Think of all the litter along the curb and washing into our waterways via street sewers. Yet, there is so much more to know, comprehend, evaluate and conclude...

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97.5% is salt water.
2.5% is fresh water!
Almost 70% of that 2.5% is frozen.
Almost 30% of that 2.5% is in the ground.
Less than 1% of clean drinkable water for our survival.*
Calculations actually present .007% of clean water to drink.

* Survival without drinkable water is difficult within 3 days. A human will die in approximately 5 days without water.

Now we don't just drink that .007%, we are free to use that precious little clean drinkable water to do thinks from washing our cars to flushing our toilets!

We use clean drinkable water to flush our waste away! Are you not sure if we have any other way of dealing with this issue? Use this LINK to visit my GTG Blog posted on May 2, 2013 called Recycling and Gray Water for the another way.

Now please read these numbers... Of our .007% clean drinkable water we use:
70% for agriculture (To have 2 pounds of beef, over 4,200 gallons of water is needed)
22% for industry (To make one microchip, almost 9 gallons of water is used)
8% is for domestic use

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Of our 8% for domestic use, that is of the .007%, we consume 60% of that to water lawns, wash cars, hose down the deck or sidewalk, wash windows, fill up swimming pools, run rides at water parks, etc. etc..

So how much clean water do people use each day?
Americans use about 150 gallons** (over 30 times more than a person without easy access to clean water).
Europeans use about 65 gallons (over 13 times more than a person without easy access to clean water).
1.1 Billion people use less than 5 gallons of water per day and DO NOT have easy access to clean drinkable water.
** Yes, 150 gallons because of all the water used in the production of the items we consume each day.
Do you buy bottle water? There is a better way.

"From preventable, water related diseases, we lose about 6 Thousand children each day"

Now I see three (3) choices for us:
- One can take the extreme side that despite these numbers, a perfectly fine future is our inheritance.
- Others may take the opposite extreme side that these numbers are prophesying doom for the human race.

- Yet there is another way, many different and better ways of using our drinkable water. This third choice is going down the middle of the road. Taking steps to stop the obvious waste of clean water (such as the solution presented above with the Link called Gray Water). Intelligently changing the way we operate when using clean water, thus helping to guarantee a better future. Not just for us in America, but also for the 1.1 Billion people who need America to offer and provide helpful solutions. Yes, us Americans are the ones that put humankind on the moon and safely home again and again. Numerous benefits ranging from medical to water came from our Space Program. The money was well spent and thousands upon thousands of people are alive today because of the transition from Space Program to everyday life. Made possible by all those Americans who fulfilled a dream by thinking of a better way of doing everything, so we can go to the moon and back. AND those Americans, those people, then and now are a conglomerate of all people from our world! It is damn time we raised our sights again by coming to our senses and making our planet a better world for all. You can start leading in your own home, your own neighborhood, by obtaining valuable data and knowledge on water. Start by visiting our EnergyHotwire.com LINK on water and read about "other ways". There is even a better way than buying bottled water so you can save money, energy and water!

Evaluation of the data above shows a clean drinking water crisis is already on our planet and has already encroached upon our own backyards. Will we be leaders and implement solutions intelligently, so we can pour a clean glass of water for our grandchildren and know that other grandparents half way around the world are doing the same?

Bill Lauto, GTG

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