Column: Water Energy Nexus

Water: how we can save even more

By: Doug Pushard
Published online: Sunday, February 05, 2012
Appeared in: Home, Santa Fe Real Estate Guide
Edition: February 2012 Vol. 14 No. 11

Water conservation is the easiest and most direct way to save water, although not the only way. Santa Feans can be proud that our city is already one of the most water-miserly communities in the United States, using just over 100 gallons per day per person. This is directly attributable to our water awareness and conservation efforts.

But there are ways we can conserve even more water by reducing our indirect water use. This is the amount of fresh water we consume indirectly through all the goods we buy, and it is the basis of a new tool called “water footprint.”

Regardless if you want to save water or not, knowing the water consumed during the production of various products is fun and makes for some interesting dinner conservation. Yes, I have brought this up at dinner parties.

For individuals, knowing the water footprints of the products we buy helps us make more informed choices as consumers. Every product, whether for manufacture or growing, requires water. Just like the yellow energy sticker on appliances, the water footprint enables us all to make more informed decisions.

According to recent studies, only 5 percent of individual water consumption is direct; 95 percent is hidden or indirect. Some examples:

338 gallons to produce a 3-ounce steak

88 gals. for three ounces of chicken

55 gals. to produce a cup of java

18 gals.to grow one apple

44 gals. for one glass of orange juice

13 gals. to produce one gallon of gas

2,900 gals. to make a pair of jeans

713 gals. to make a T-shirt

The message is not to quit eating beef, stop drinking OJ and quit wearing jeans, though some of us may make those choices in part because of water-footprint concerns. But we can easily choose grass- fed, rather than grain-fed; we can choose recycled-material jeans over new jeans, chicken over beef, local beef over beef shipped in from hundreds of miles away, or buying a fresh, local apple over having a glass of reconstituted orange juice. With these informed decisions, we can significantly reduce our water footprint.

The National Geographic Water Footprint Calculator (environment. nationalgeographic.com/environment/ freshwater/water-footprint-calculator) is one of the easiest and fun tools I have found to measure one’s water footprint. It takes just a few minutes and provides you an estimated total of your water consumption and rank against the average American. It is not a perfect tool (it calculated negative water use for me in one category) but it was fun to see how I compared.

The calculation should be taken as an approximation of how one’s choices consume water. Maybe eventually we will have a Water Label on our products. After all, water is one of our most precious and life-giving resources.

The average American lifestyle consumes nearly 2,000 gallons of water a day (directly and indirectly) - one of the highest rates in the world. I found out how much I use and where I can save. How much do you use?

Doug Pushard, the founder of the website www.HarvestH2o.com, has designed and installed residential rainwater systems for 12 years. A member of Santa Fe Water Conservation Committee and a board member of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association, he can be reached at Doug@ HarvestH2o.com.