It is possibly the single most important thing on the planet for all living organisms and recent studies suggest that water is going to become an even more precious resource as world water demand exceeds the supply.  For many of us in first world countries, it is hard to imagine there being a shortage of something we can get every time we turn on our taps.  I mean, for those of us who live on the Pacific westcoast where it rains almost every day for at least half the year, suggesting that we’ll soon have a shortage of water seems absurd.  However, consider the difficulty that parts of the world have in getting clean drinking water and the fact that there is a limited supply of it for the ever growing population of our planet.

So what can you do about it?  Contrary to what some of us might think, saving water can be actually quite easy with some adjustments to our routines and a bit more thinking about how we use water everyday.  I mean, there are some that take it too far, in my opinion, and are rather gross (flushing the toilet once per day?!) but for the most part, using common sense will help immensely.  For example, if you have an air conditioner that has a built-in dehumidifier like I do, use the collected water for your lawn or plants.  Here’s some tips that each one of us can put to use without a huge amount of change to our everyday lives.

• use water efficient shower heads…and take shorter showers.
• turn the shower off when you’re shampooing your hair or soaping up.
• turn the water off while you’re brushing your teeth or shaving.
• use your dishwasher/washing machine only when they are full.  Put smaller loads together.
• soak your pots/pans rather than running them in water.  No one likes to scrub that hard anyways!
• fill the sink to wash your veggies and fruits rather than running the tap.
• use a water bottle for drinking to reduce the number of glasses/cups you need to wash each day.

There’s obviously a lot more ways to conserve water around the house.  If you have suggestions, we’d love to hear them.