March 22 is World Water Day. This day is all about valuing the role this precious resource plays in our lives. In today’s post, I’ll talk about the importance of this vital resource, and why we need to conserve it. Then, I’ve got 10 ways you can use less water.
This post was originally published in March 2021 and updated in March 2024.
Living in Canada, it’s easy to take water for granted. We turn on the tap, and there it is! In fact, Canada is home to 20% of the earth’s precious freshwater resources. This feeling of abundance has led us to be wasteful in the past. Canada ranks second on the worldwide scale of water usage, behind only the United States. (Source: Water Consumption Statistics 2023
Yet, around the world 1 in 3 people don’t have access to safe drinking water according to the World Health Organization. And, right here in Canada, 28 indigenous communities have long-term drinking water advisories in place at time of writing.
We can’t afford to be complacent!
A precious resource
It’s is a critical resource. Our bodies can’t live without it. We use it for washing, cooking, cleaning, and growing crops. It plays an important role in electricity production and manufacturing.
Access to clean water is crucial to economic growth and prosperity.
With access to clean water and sanitation, societies evolve, from the everyday welfare of people to how the economy operates.
Global Citizen
It’s also vital to our health and wellbeing. According to the United Nations, 80% of illnesses and deaths in the developing world are caused by waterborne diseases.
Why conservation matters
While we have reduced our consumption in Canada over the years, our second-place ranking in the world shows we still have a long way to go.
It might seem something we don’t need to worry about, but here’s why it matters.
Water from rain and snow is a renewable resource, but climate change is having an impact with hot dry summers and less snow in the winter.
Even in a country where we’re surrounded by it, the National Geographic article I mentioned above tells us less than half of our fresh water supply is renewable. The rest comes primarily from groundwater sources that can be easily depleted. And much of our renewable water flows north to the sparsely-populated Arctic. Two-thirds of our population lives in urban areas in the southernmost part of the country, within 100 km of the US border. You can see why this is a problem.
It’s also a social justice issue. We all have a responsibility to be good stewards of the resources we have available to us and to set an example for the rest of the world.
So, here are 10 ways you can conserve today.
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10 ways you can use less water
Fix that dripping tap
A faucet that drips once per second can waste 21 litres of water per day. That’s over 7,000 litres, or about 2,000 US gallons, a year. (Source: USGS)
Turn off the tap while you brush and wash
If you leave the tap running while you brush your teeth and wash your hands, you’re wasting 64 cups of water every time you brush your teeth. (Source: Colgate)
And with our increased focus on hand-washing, imagine how much you can save if you turn off the tap when you lather up!
Reduce or stop lawn watering
Keeping your lawn green uses a lot of water, and it’s largely unnecessary. If you’re not ready to embrace the yellow grass of late summer, check out To water or not to water? The great grass debate for tips to reduce the impact of your green lawn.
Keep your showers short
We often hear that showers use less water than filling a bathtub, but that only works if you use a water-saving shower head and keep your showers short. An efficient shower head pumps out 2 gallons per minute, whereas it takes about 70 gallons to fill a tub. (Source: Stanford Magazine) You don’t need to be a math whiz to figure out that a 5-minute shower will use less water, but a 20-minute shower won’t!
Get a rain barrel
Consider getting a rain barrel to collect water for your flowers and garden. We’ve had one for many years. It does run dry during extended periods of drought, but it only takes a short rainfall to fill it up.
Cover your pool
Uncovered pools can lose thousands of litres every year. Covering your pool will reduce water lost to evaporation. It will also reduce the amount of energy to heat your pool.
Fully load your washing machine or dishwasher
To make the most of the water and energy you’re using to run your washing machine or dishwasher, make sure the machine is full with every load.
Collect water while you wait for your shower to warm up
No-one likes to step into a cold shower. While you’re running the water for your shower to warm up, collect it and use it to fill your kettle or give your plants a drink.
Don’t run the tap when cleaning veggies
This is an area where I need to improve. Similar to turning the tap off when you wash your hands or brush your teeth, washing your fruit and veggies with the tap running wastes a lot of water. Instead, fill a bowl, scrub your veggies and then quickly rinse under the tap.
Say NO to fast fashion
Most of the tips I’ve shared will have an impact on your local water supply, but here’s one that has far-reaching benefits. The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry on earth, often polluting water in parts of the world where access to clean water is scarce.
It takes 2,700 litres (700 US gallons) of water to make one t-shirt. That’s the amount the average person drinks in three years! (Source: University of Waterloo) Commit to reducing your impact by saying no to fast fashion. You can read more about this in Why it’s time to ditch fast fashion.
In addition to saving water, these changes will have a big impact on your water bill. So, there really is no excuse for not taking whatever steps you can to conserve this precious resource.
This isn’t an exhaustive list. There are many other ways to conserve. Tell me your tips below.
Happy Earth Day, Michelle! Such excellent suggestions! I am going to start soaking veggies in water instead of letting the tap run. I hadn’t even thought about this, but thank you for including it in your post!
Thanks Cher. Yes, that’s a simple change, and one I often forget about.
Right, I always make sure that I do not use water for useless. Although, I always have much water all the time.
That’s a great philosophy to live by! Thanks for reading.
I’m familiar with most of these tips, but the last one was surprising! I never thought about how much water is used in making clothes!
That information shocked me too. I’ve been avoiding buying clothes since the beginning of last year. The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries on the planet.
This is such an important topic! Thanks for sharing these tips, we definitely have been more aware of the dripping tap in our bathroom and consciously aware of our length of time in the shower.
Thanks Tracy. It’s surprising how a dripping tap adds up over time.
This is such a good reminder and so important. You’ve also listed another reason fast fashion is so bad. Those numbers are shocking. This is one of the main reasons I’m doing my best to move over to a more minimalist lifestyle – although it is hard with growing kids.
Yes, the amount of water needed to make clothing is shocking. It’s tough with kids. When my girls were small, I got a lot of hand-me-downs from their cousins and then I passed the clothing along to other friends and family members when they outgrew them.
I feel like I take our clean water in Canada for granted more often than I should. I wash my hair only once a week. A part of that is for the health of my hair, but a large part of the reason is because it uses up a lot of water.
It is shocking and heartbreaking how many indigenous communities have water advisories. 🙁
Thanks Alison. I used to wash my hair every day. Now I am down to twice a week It definitely results in much shorter showers and softer hair!
Yes, we need to do better for our indigenous people. It’s so sad.
I feel pretty good to say we do many of these already. Yey!
That’s great to hear!
Great post with great tips! I can’t believe how much water is used to make a shirt. That is crazy!
I have two rain barrels that I use to water my garden and flower beds but I need to work on some of the other areas. For the past year or so, I keep saying that I need to use less water but I haven’t made any lasting changes. I think I’ll make a chart with some of your ideas so I can hold myself accountable. I’m thinking shorter showers and making sure the water is off when I’m not actively using it is a great starting point.
Thanks for this important reminder!
I would love to get another rain barrel. We had a bigger one but it cracked and we could only find a smaller one. We track our rainfall and only water our garden when necessary. That helps reduce water consumption too.
My new garden doesn’t have sprinklers and I am getting drought tolerant plants and a rain barrel. Mulch too. Hope it works
Those are great ways to reduce water. We water our vegetable garden but we’ve never watered our lawn. My husband grew up on a farm and he doesn’t believe in wasting precious water on grass!
Wow, 2700 litres to make a t-shirt! It’s shocking how much water we use.
It is shocking. That’s one of the reasons I have drastically reduced the number of new clothes I buy over the last couple of years.