New Water Quality Runoff Tool from the USDA

A new online tool gives farmers and ranchers a better understanding of the quality of water flowing off their fields and into waterways. The new tool is called the Water Quality Index for Agricultural Runoff (WQIag) and was developed by scientists at USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Solutions to the World Water Crisis

Despite the devastating water issues that plague our planet, there are solutions that can help address the water crisis.

Many organizations are leading the charge by bringing fresh water to communities in the developing world. Your donations can help support organizations that provide clean drinking water to those in need. Among these organizations is Charity: Water, which allows you to create a fundraising page to raise money to build wells in Africa. You can also directly donate through Water.org, an organization co-founded by Matt Damon. Just $25 provides clean water for a lifetime for one person.

There are also things that everyone can do in their homes and businesses. It starts with water conservation initiatives.

HOME

Here are some helpful tips for water conservation as well as tools that help individuals monitor and manage their water usage at home.

Take shorter showers and save up to 25 gallons of water a day by cutting 5 minutes off your shower time.

Turn off the tap while you’re brushing your teeth or shaving can save about 8 gallons a day.

Use a broom rather than hose down your driveway or sidewalk.

Landscaping using climate-appropriate plants need significantly less water.

Replacing showerheads with low-flow models and putting inexpensive aerators on faucets can cut water use by up to 20 percent.

Conservation Starts at Home: The average person uses 465 liters of water per day, this link helps you determine how much water you use.

Keeping Rivers Clean: Small steps to help keep pollution out of our rivers and streams.

Drop the Bottle: Communities around the world are taking steps to reduce water bottle waste by eliminating bottled water.

Technology for Good: An App that calculates the amount of water it took to make a given food.

BUSINESS

Green Biz has put together an excellent resource page for businesses looking to conserve water. They also include several resources to help businesses use water more efficiently.

Business for Social Responsibility has several online research reports on water conservation, including several case studies.

Water Conservation Tips: A 10-Step Approach for Your Business was prepared by the Long Beach Water Department for commercial and industrial businesses.

WaterSense This voluntary program is offered to manufacturers, retailers, distributors, nonprofits, trade associations, utilities and landscape irrigation professionals to bring water-efficient products to market. Website also offers water-saving resources. Contact: watersense@epa.gov or (866) 987-7367.

Waterwiser Website lists providers of water conservation products and services in a searchable database.

Forty-nine tips for saving water, can be applied to the office or home.

Cleaner Water Through Conservation is a US Environmental Protection Agency document that provides an overview of water conservation and provides action steps.

"Building the Way to Water Efficiency" is a feature story that describes how facility managers, municipalities and innovative companies are working together to make water conservation easier and more effective.

Another water management resource is the Water Sustainability Tool: This tool is designed to help individual companies build a business water strategy.


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Alarming Facts About Water

Due to the scarcity of clean water, we are in an ever worsening water crisis, particularly in the developing world. Although the United Nations declared access to clean water and sanitation a human right, nearly 1 billion people around the globe still risk death and disease due to a lack of potable water.

The disproportionate levels of water consumption in industrialized countries as compared to the developing world is appalling. While people in developing countries are dying due to the water crisis, those in industrialized countries over-consume.

Every day, 2 million tons of human waste are disposed of in our oceans, rivers and streams. This not only negatively impacts the environment but also harms the health of surrounding communities.

Unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation kills more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. According to Charity: Water, every week, nearly 38,000 children under the age of 5 die from unsafe drinking water and unhygienic living conditions.

Water is also a contributing factor for war including the conflict in Darfur which is at least in part due to the lack of access to water. A UN commissioned report found that in the 21st century, water scarcity will become one of the leading causes of conflict in Africa.

Different types of food have differing water requirements as part of their food footprint. According to The Water Project, it takes 24 liters of water to produce one hamburger. That means it would take over 184 billion gallons of water to make just one hamburger for every person in the United States.

The digital devices we use also have surprising water requirements as part of their technology footprint. According to ieee Spectrum, a cell phone requires half a liter of water to charge, with over 80 million active iPhones in the world, that's 40 million liters to charge those phones alone.

Even our clothes have a fashion footprint, Treehugger reports that a cotton t-shirt requires 1,514 liters of water to produce, and jeans require 6,813 liters.

As reported in Change.org, the US leads the world in bottled water consumption, with an average consumption of 200 bottles of water per person each year. Over 17 million barrels of oil are needed to manufacture those water bottles, 86 percent of which will never be recycled.

Today, 40% of America's rivers and 46% of America's lakes are too polluted for fishing, swimming, or aquatic life.

Water pollution also has a monetary cost, polluted coastal waters are estimated to cost the global economy $12.8 billion a year.


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Blog Action Day 2010: Raising Awareness about Water

October 15th is Blog Action Day, on this day thousands of bloggers from over 130 countries come together around a common theme. This year the issue is clean water, a resource essential for life, but dangerously scarce.

Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers around a common theme. Last year, more than 13,000 bloggers participated from 152 countries. The aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion about an important issue that impacts people around the world.

Blog Action Day 2010 is shaping up to be the biggest online day of action around water the world has ever seen.

This years subject matter is part of an effort to save some of the staggering number of people, including a disproportionate number of children who die each day from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation facilities.

Together with US Fund for UNICEF, Blog Action Day is helping to build a movement of people across the world calling on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to accelerate the UN's work to supply clean, safe drinking water to the world's poorest populations.


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