What we can do about water use

We have a “use it once, then send it away” attitude about many earth resources, and water is just one of these.

Right now, we’re feeling the pinch because of the California drought.  But these times are a reminder to shift our thinking: to begin treating water as an asset rather than a waste product.

Currently only 1% of our water is recycled (according to LADWP). When we’ve already paid hard cash and enormous environmental cost to ship water here from far-flung places, sending water “away” is literally sending an asset down the drain.

Fifty to 80 percent of residential wastewater is potential graywater, the Green LA Coalition Water Team tells us.Extensive use of greywater is the new future.

To shift our attitudes about “waste” water, the new challenge is how many times can you reuse water before it leaves your site?

I found a pie chart which shows where the water use goes in a typical home.  I added the bubbles that show fairly simple things that we can do about each …

I originally created this diagram for my Water Wisdom booklet.  Browse other posts about water saving ideas.