Clearly, being vegetarian and not relying on a car for most of my transportation greatly reduces my water footprint. Generally being a minimalist also helps in the stuff category - and purchasing second-hand items when needed.Now, you may ask, "How does my water consumption relate to the world water crisis - beyond the fact that we are all part of the world?" Well, many of the products we consume come from other places around the world, this means we are draining some other person's water resources (as well as our own).
Just a few examples of how much water it takes to produce other products:
1 barrel of oil = 2-3 barrels of water (Source Blue Gold)
1 microchip = 32 liters of water (Source Blue Gold)
1 car = 39,090 gallons of water (Source)
1 pair of blue jeans (just the cotton) = 1,800 gallons of water (Source)
1 cotton T-shirt (just the cotton) = 400 gallons (Source)
1 cup of Tea = 7.93 gallons (Source)
1 cup of Coffee = 36.98 gallons - enough to overflow the average bathtub (Source)
Both Blue Gold: World Water Wars and Water Wars (available on instant-watch Netflix) dive into the interconnectedness of water in ways I cannot fairly summarize. The basic idea is that around the world, we are draining our natural sources of water (rivers, streams, creeks) or damming them up for power purposes. We are also digging deeper to obtain water, draining water tables, and pumping huge quantities into our production facilities to feed our insatiable appetite for more. Both these documentaries take a fairly extreme perspective, but whether you agree or disagree, I found them helpful to stimulate thought on theses issues. I don't have any great solutions to provide to these huge problems, as I am not an expert in this field but hope to provide further food for thought on topic of WASH and some of the short -term projects and solutions.
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