I’m a big fan of WaterSense, the program run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that inspires companies to produce appliances and gadgets that help people like you and me save money. When I needed to replace my toilet last year, I made sure it met the WaterSense standards, and when I’ve purchased water timers for my garden, they’ve been WaterSense models, too. This month, WaterSense is focusing its attention on showers, since conventional showers waste so much H2O. I invited Karen Wirth, EPA’s WaterSense Marketing and Outreach Coordinator, to explain why it makes sense to take a WaterSense shower. Here’s what she had to say:

The shower is a place where we wake up, wind down, or just have a little “me” time in an otherwise hectic day. But did you know it’s also one of the most common places indoors where you might be wasting water, energy, and money?

Showering is one of the leading ways we use water at home, accounting for nearly 17 percent of residential indoor water use. The average family uses about 40 gallons of water daily in the shower alone. That adds up to nearly 1.2 trillion gallons used nationwide each year just for showering. Shaving just one minute off your shower time can save more than 500 gallons of water annually, as well as the same amount of electricity as it takes to run your laptop all year!

In 2006, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created WaterSense® as a label for high-efficiency plumbing products that not only use less water, but work as well (or better) than their water-guzzling counterparts. What’s more, we require products that earn the label to be independently certified to our rigorous criteria for both water savings and performance.

Take showerheads, for example. EPA requires WaterSense-labeled models to be tested for both spray force and water coverage in addition to water savings, so you can enjoy a relaxing and satisfying shower knowing you’re saving resources and doing your part for the environment. In other words, you’ll shower better.

And don’t forget, it takes energy to heat our shower water. Let’s say you take an eight-minute shower. If you’re using a WaterSense-labeled showerhead, every time you shower, you’ll save four gallons of water, plus the electricity it takes to light a 60-watt bulb for eight hours. For a whole family, replacing just one showerhead with a WaterSense labeled model can save 2,900 gallons of water per year, or the amount of water it takes to wash more than 70 loads of laundry! The average American family can also save enough energy each year to power their home for 13 days, and cut annual water and energy costs by more than $70.

In places like California, which is experiencing its worst drought in decades, saving water is especially important. Across the country, if every U.S. home replaced its showerheads with WaterSense-labeled models, we could save more than 260 billion gallons of water annually. WaterSense-labeled models are available in a wide variety of styles and price points, so you’re sure to find one that works for you. And, best of all, you’ll be making a simple change for the better.

In honor of EPA’s Shower Better Month this October, why not give yourself a green upgrade with a WaterSense-labeled showerhead? Many water utilities are offering free showerhead replacements or rebates on WaterSense labeled models; check out EPA’s website. Money isn’t all you will save, but it sure is a good start!

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The post Are You Taking A WaterSense Shower? appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Could you live on 4 liters of water a day? That’s the equivalent of about a gallon. And when it comes down to it, that’s just not very much water. Unfortunately, that’s about all the clean water millions of people in the world have access to – not just for drinking or washing or cooking, but for everything they do. 4 liters. 1 gallon. DigDeep.org thinks that’s wrong – and so do I. That’s why I agreed to take DigDeep’s 4Liters Challenge. I want to help them raise awareness — and money — so more people can have access to clean, safe water.

To take the challenge, I filled up four liter-size bottles of water and used them over the course of a 24-hour period. In doing so, here’s what I realized:

* I would use more than the water I had all day to flush my toilet just once (but most people usually flush their toilets once an hour – you definitely couldn’t do that on 4 liters a day).

* I could wash my face and hands only twice in the day. I could wet a wash cloth and wipe off my body, but definitely not take a shower. Shampoo my hair? No.

* On normal days, I use just about 4 liters of water every day to make a pot of coffee, 4 or 5 cups of tea, wash the fruit I eat for breakfast and the salad ingredients I eat for lunch. During the Challenge, that could have used up all the water I had, so I cut out the coffee, made only two cups of tea, and wiped off my fruit instead of washing it.

* Once I used my water for tea, coffee, and food washing, there was no water left over to boil water for rice or pasta, to make soup, or just to drink with some ice and a squeeze of lemon and lime.

* There definitely was not enough water to wash dishes, let alone run the dishwasher.

* Laundry? Forget about it. Housecleaning? Nope.

* Lawn? Garden? No water for watering outdoors or in.

You’ll notice that the list of what I COULD NOT  do on 4 liters of water a day is much longer than what I could do. Lucky for me, I suffered this water scarcity for only one day.

But what if this were your reality day after day after day?

For millions of people, it is. DigDeep is trying to change that. The organization defends access to water as a “basic human right,” says the organization’s energetic founder, George McGraw. DigDeep also helps communities build sustainable water projects that improve water access for the people who need it. And of course, DigDeep runs the 4liters challenge to educate water-rich people like you and me about this precious resource.

I hope you’ll take the 4liters challenge, and I also hope you’ll help support DigDeep financially. The group is asking for a small $40 tax-deductible contribution, but you don’t have to donate to participate in the challenge.

By the way, while you’re at it, invite your friends to participate, too.

Sign up to take the challenge or contribute here.

DON’T MISS THESE OTHER HELPFUL POSTS

Ten Ways to Save Water Outside and Cut Your Water Bill by 50%

Ten No-Brainer Ways to Use Water Wisely

Meet My New Water-Saving Toilet

The post Take Dig Deep’s 4Liters Challenge! appeared first on Big Green Purse.

One person of every three on the planet today isn’t nearly so fortunate, according to the International Water Management Institute, given their lack of reliable access to fresh water (or, in the case of some 2.6 billion people by World Health Organization estimates, proper latrines). Even here in the U.S., the federal Government Accountability Office reported in 2003 that “water managers in thirty-six states anticipate water shortages locally, regionally, or statewide within the next ten years.”

The rest of the world looks equally thirsty. By 2025, worries the Water Management Institute, all of Africa and the Middle East, and almost all of South and Central America and Asia, will either be running out of water or unable to afford its cost.

They’ll also be contending with water safety. “Every day more children die from dirty water than HIV-AIDS, malaria, war, and accidents all put together,” says Maude Barlow, national chair of the Council of Canadians, a citizens’ advocacy group, and coauthor of Blue Gold: The Battle to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water.

According to a 2003 survey by the European Environmental Agency, nitrates, toxins, heavy metals and/or harmful microorganisms contaminate groundwater in nearly every European country and former Soviet republic.

In the U.S., we count on our tap water to be safe, and for the most part it is. The EPA sets standards for approximately ninety contaminants in drinking water. Outbreaks from microbial contamination — the kind that give you a stomach ache or diarrhea — are rare, given how many people are serviced by the public drinking water system.

The bigger issue may revolve around chemicals that waste water treatment faciities weren’t designed to remove. The common fertilizer ingredient nitrate, for example, can seep into drinking water through runoff from lawns, gardens, and agricultural fields, causing “blue baby syndrome” if it depletes a newborn baby’s hemoglobin. Pregnant and nursing women and the elderly should also avoid water that’s high in nitrate content.

Meanwhile, as more and more pharmaceuticals get flushed down toilets, fish and other aquatic wildlife are feeling the effects. Smallmouth bass in the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have turned up sporting both male and female sex organs … on the same fish.

The National Academy of Sciences is worried. Its list of “naturally occurring and man-made contaminants in drinking water (that) are of concern to all of us” includes arsenic, perchlorate (a component of rocket fuel and fireworks), copper and methylmercury, the scourge of parents anxious about learning disabilities and developmental disorders in their kids.

The ocean’s misfortune is also our own, for reasons that have to do with some factors we’ve already discussed, like climate change and chemical pollution. Twenty percent of coral reefs and 35% of mangroves have been lost since 1980, along with their capacity to buffer coastal communities from storms. With nearly half the world’s cities located within 50 kilometers of a coast, people are more vulnerable than ever before to extreme wweather events, like the Asian tsunami and hurricane Katrina. over half of the synthetic nitrogen ever used to fertilize American farmland has been applied in the last two decades. As much as 50% of it has run off, creating dead zones in great aquatic cauldrons like the Gulf of Mexico that make short shrift of those shrimp you like to serve for dinner.

What can you do?

* Take these easy and affordable steps to conserve water

* Use make-up, deodorant, shampoo and other personal care products free of polluting ingredients.

* Garden organically and design your landscape to minimize run-off.

* Buy organic food and clothes made from recycled or organic fibers to minimize chemical applications on land that seep into water.

* Get more ideas from Water. Use it Wisely.

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