Sustainability Tip of the Week: Reduce Your Water Footprint

by Meryl Phair

Did you know that Mount Holyoke College uses an average of 80,000 gallons of water a day. That is enough to:

 - fill the Kendall pool every 2.2 days

- fill 8 PVTA buses

- fill 9 single rooms

 

Students use water in dorms to wash dishes, take showers, do laundry and sprinkle their windowsill plants. Water is an essential part of our lives, but the way we utilize this resource needs to change before we erode one of our most valuable assets. 

The public demand for water has increased, with the average American using 100 gallons of water each day — about 1,600 drinking glasses. The United States Environmental Protection Agency says that at least forty states in America anticipate water shortages by 2024. It’s not just the water we use that is a problem, but the water we don’t use also has a significant impact. A lot of water is wasted through “behavioral waste,” or waste that is a result of human habits.

 Here are some easy ways to reduce your behavioral waste footprint in your dorm: 

 1. Reduce shower time by at least 2.5 minutes.

2. Jump in when the water’s hot! Each minute the shower runs wastes 2.5 gallons.

3. Turn off the shower when shampooing, shaving, or soaping up.

4. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth or washing your face.

5. Turn faucets off tightly after each use. 

6. Don’t use the toilet as a waste basket — every unnecessary flush wastes 1.5 to 3.5 gallons.

7. When doing laundry, wash full loads or match the water level to the size of the load.

8. Wash your clothes with cold water to save energy. 

9. Don’t leave the water running when washing dishes by hand.

10. Eat less water intensive food: what we eat accounts for roughly half of all the water we use and food has a significant water footprint through production and distribution. Look into the water footprints of your food and make changes to your diet. 

11. Buy Less: Consumer products can equate to up to a third of your water footprint so just buying less in general will help reduce your footprint. 

 As we lean more heavily on our available water supplies, we also put pressure on sewage treatment facilities and water supply and distribution systems. We also use more energy for water heating. Water conservation helps prevent water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions while saving you money on utility bills. It is important to be more mindful in our everyday lives, because even one leaky faucet or an extra minute in the shower has a huge environmental impact.