Water Conservation

Why Conserve Water  |  Water Saving Tips  |   Our Local Watershed

Water, like energy, is a valuable resource that is too frequently squandered. The World Bank predicts that the next World War will be fought over water. In Cochabamba, Bolivia, there was recently a struggle and victory by the people to prevent the privatization of water. Over half the people around the world lack access to clean water, and the United States is very privileged in that way, but this does not mean we can afford to waste it!

Fresh, clean water is scarce and getting more so: of all the water on earth, less than 3 percent is fresh, and all but three-thousandths of that is locked up in glaciers or icecaps or is too deep in the earth to retrieve. Of the freshwater available in rivers, lakes, and accessible groundwater, an increasingly large fraction is polluted with biological, chemical, and radioactive contaminants. Thanks to global warming, the glaciers and icecaps are beginning to melt, and some theorists predict that as they do, there will be a battle over free-floating icesheets as a source of clean water.

Conserve water because it is the right thing to do. Don't waste water just because someone else is footing the bill.