Living in California, where we are facing the worst drought in recorded history, water is a huge concern.

Living in the mountains where we get our water from a spring and make our power off-the-grid with a micro-hyrdo, we are connected to our water source more than most Americans.   We are constantly monitoring its health.

According to the Nature Conservancy’s new website Liquid Courage:

Do you know where your water comes from?   You might know the source, i.e. reservoir, but have you gone and looked it at lately?  If you live in California, you will be greatly shocked.

Even with my close connection with my water source, I still can be disillusioned by the tap in town. The other day I had a bunch of quarters and thought the car wash would be a good place to use them up. After using gallons and gallons of water in the futile job of cleaning my car, I felt extreme guilt.

If you live in California, you should not wash your car.  You should shrink the size of your lawn and garden.  You should conserve water.

In fact, you should follow this advice anywhere you live.

It’s astounding to think how much water we use without even knowing it.  The Nature Conservancy states 2900 gallons of water is used to grow the cotton for one pair of jeans. How many pairs of jeans does your family own?  It’s astounding if you do the math.

As the Earth’s population increases, demand for the limited amount of fresh water coupled with drought conditions creates a scenario worthy of a Hollywood horror flick. You can stop worrying about the zombie apocalypse.  You should be worried about water.

 

At the time of writing this sentence, the Earth’s population is 7,221,311,066 according to World of Meters.  How can 7,221,311,066 share 0.03% of drinkable and accessible water on Earth?