Page 54 - The Celestia Project
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Chapter 6: Water Conservation
Balancing the Water Budget chemicals: “2.4 percent of the world’s crop land is planted with
cotton, and yet it accounts for 24 percent and 11 percent of the
1. Skip the Burger. Whenever humans make something, it contains global sales of insecticide and pesticides respectively.”
a certain amount of “virtual water.”This is an estimate of the amount
of water required to produce this product. Recently, researchers Add to that the lifelong costs of washing and drying it, and
have tried to estimate the virtual water footprint for various types a simple T-shirt becomes a virtual water Goliath. What are the
of foods. Americans, on average, eat about half a pound of meat a alternatives? Innovations in nano-fabrics that are self-cleaning may
day (eco-centric.com). Some estimates put producing a pound of hold the key. That 100-percent cotton T-shirt from Patagonia may
beef at 1,800 gallons of water. So for the meat alone, we’re using 900 seem like a green statement, but the world’s water supply might
gallons of virtual water per day. That’s almost three times the total be far better served if we all wore permanent press synthetics. The
daily household water use for a U.S. family (320 gallons), according challenge for manufacturers is to create synthetics that feel like
to the EPA. It’s no wonder that a study in Finland calculated that cotton, and for fashion leaders to embrace a new age of synthetic
by switching to a vegetarian diet, enough water would be saved to clothing. We’ve done it before. In World War II, the military sold
feed an additional 1.8 billion people around the world. us on the bene ts of rayon and nylon. Even polyester seemed sexy
when John Travolta was wearing it in Saturday Night Fever. Fashion
2. Forego that T-Shirt. Some crops are more equal than others. is exible, whereas the need for fresh drinking water is not.
WAY more equal. Cotton is one of the worst water guzzlers on
the planet. According to WorldWildlife.org, producing a single 3. Go Net Zero (Preferably Solar). Most U.S. power plants de-
cotton T-shirt can require up to 2,700 gallons of water. In addition, liver electricity at 30 percent e ciency. Beyond that sobering
growing cotton usually involves vast amounts of water-polluting fact, however, is their water cost. Cooling thermoelectric plants
Irrigation: The Other “Fit for Purpose”
Giant Sucking Sound Comes of Age
What’s Wrong with Texas? The impacts of agricultural Do we really need drinking water in our toilets?
irrigation can be seen clearly in this map of projected per capita In the U.S., we drink about one percent of the
water use for the year 2030. Many of these large agri-farms rely drinking water quality water piped into our homes.
on sources such as “fossil water” aquifers that may take many The other 99 percent of this high-quality H2O is
years to replenish. But the map also highlights just how big an used to flush toilets, wash laundry, water lawns
impact localized irrigation has. Note the low water use in the
New England states, which are just as lawn-crazy as other Tand take showers.
states. But annual rainfall in the Northeast greatly reduces HIS INEFFICIENT USE OF water treatment has begun
irrigation needs. Along with other major shifts in water to get more scrutiny, now that water availability has
consciousness, the use of water-thirsty lawns in regions that become an issue. So-called “fit for purpose” water
can’t support them with natural rainfall must be curtailed. supplies (separate pipes carrying di erently treated
water) are being taken more seriously. In fact, the new 2012
SOURCE: EPA International Residential Code includes a non-prescriptive
section encouraging graywater reuse in homes.
