Dan Day

English 1208-201
Prof. Cassel
1 April 2015

Literature Review

The reason for writing this paper is to understand, in greater detail, water conservation
and also reasons as to why we should conserve water. In our society, we do not often think about
where our water comes from, or the process or processes that take place which provide the water.
Of course we dont think about all that, we just turn on the faucet. Now this lack of education
pertaining to water, and the lengths we go to getting the water, is scary. The world is making its
way towards a serious problem and most of us are just adding to that problem. This is an issue
that intrigues me, and one that I am researching. There are many reasons as to why we should
conserve water and many ways in which to do so my hope is my research will help you discover
ways to conserve water.
Despite your views on Global Warning, one un-arguable truth is that the worlds
population is increasing, as are our consumptive water habits. 3.1 billion (yes with a B) people
have been added to this earth over the past 50 years. Another 2.8 billion (also with a B) are also
expected to arrive in the coming 50 years. Now that is an issue, seeing how our supply of water
is not increasing, in fact its depleting. The average household uses 31 gallons of water a day, per
person! Of that, 1.5 gallons are going straight down the drain as we brush our teeth. We do not
have enough water on this planet for us to be able to waste that much water. Statistics show that

7 people die from bad or no water every minute. Water conservation efforts should be taken
immediately if we plan to be able to support 2.8 more billion people in the next 50 years
(Pushard).
California is an excellent example of why we need to take immediate action towards this
water issue. California is in a twenty-some-year mega drought, with record low recordings of
water availability. One reason water is such an issue in California is because of its agriculture
and lawn care needs. Your typical lawn needs watered at least 3 days a week, 3 times each
watering day, for 3-4 minutes each time. Now having a nice green lawn is a luxury, which needs
to be considered carefully when dealing with drought. We need to understand that more than
60% of Californias imported groundwater goes to landscaping, primarily lawn care. It is an issue
that is slowly being realized, people are beginning to tear out their nice Bermuda grass and
putting in artificial landscaping. Along with others who are switching to a warm-season grass
which needs 20% less water than a cool-season grass, the only down side being the possibility of
it turning brown in the winter months. Over 7.4 million square feet of grass has been removed
from lawns since 2009, saving money, time and most importantly, water (Crotta).
There are two mains ways that people get water to their homes in the United States, the
first being city water. Most people who live in town have access to city water hook up, if they do
not, they probably have dug a well. That however, is not how Tymn Combest from San Angelo,
Texas receives his water, Tymn uses a rain catchment system. Combest lives completely off of
the water he catches from rainfall, he is able to collect 2,100 gallons of water from just 1 inch of
rainfall. That means that with an average yearly rainfall of 20 inches, he is able to collect 42,000
gallons of water. When you build new homes today, you really ought to consider putting the

plumbing in (for rainwater), (Combest). A system like his would cost around $7500, but you
have to think about the water you are saving, and the carbon foot print you're diminishing
(Ching).
Another important thing to think about when we talk about water conservation is energy.
When water comes out of the faucet you do not often think about the energy that was used to
move, treat and heat each glass of water you drink. Policymakers are desperately trying to
convince Angelenos to conserve water in many different methods that range from, showering
together and using dropped ice cubes to water plants. Water may not be terribly expensive but, it
does use a lot of energy to prepare, 80% of operation costs of water utility is energy-related.
Governor Jerry Browns goal is to lower water consumption by 20%, but first consider that the
average water consumption per person in Los Angeles is 152 gallons per person per day! We do
not have a limitless fresh water supply, desalination plants are beginning to pop up, one is being
planned for San Diego County. A $1 billion dollar plant that will supply less than 10% of usable
water for its region, and use more energy than 125,000 Californian homes. There are many
excellent reasons as to why water conservation is important, like the fact that its not a renewable
resource, eventually we will run out and that day seems to be getting nearer and nearer. But as
we have seen, another incredibly important reason as to why we should conserve water has to do
with the energy we will save by conserving. The less energy we have to use, the cleaner our
environment will be. Water conservation works full circle, save water, save energy, save the
environment (Its a power saver).
Back to California, like previously mentioned above, California seems to be in a pickle.
California has been loosing 12 million acre-feet of water yearly since 2011. A large portion of
water loss is due to groundwater pumping for agricultural irrigation into the Central Valley. A

problem arises when a drought comes, because farmers are forced to pump more groundwater to
sustain their crop. It is widely known California is simply running out of water, and they have no
contingency plan for this drought. According to a recent field poll, 94% of Californians believe
the drought is serious. Of that, 1/3 of them believe that that mandatory rationing is in order, so
the problem appears to be recognized by the public, now they just need to do something about it.
With plans like the Sustainable Groundwater Management act of 2014 and bringing together
think-tanks to come up with long term management strategies, they seem to be on track
(Famiglietti).
All of these topics bring to mind the issue we are facing world-wide. Its not something
that we can just sit back and watch to see what unfolds. Serious repercussions will and are
occurring due to our current situation, needless to say we need to take action. Not everyone can
afford a rainwater catchment system, but everyone can afford to turn the water off while brushing
their teeth. The reason as to why this topic so closely intrigues and motivates me, has to do with
the people in need. So many people in the world, most of which are outside of America but not
all, do not have access to clean drinking water. I would hate to see that happen here in the United
States, as I hate to see it happen anywhere. I think the most important thing to understand is that
we cannot just make more water, the way we can print more money. Once we run out of
freshwater were forced to go through desalination processes which is absolutely terrible for the
environment. Collectively let us come together and strive towards a solution to this issue.

Work Cited Page

Ching, Monique. Rainwater harvest more than a drop in the bucket. Standard-Times. 21
March. 2015. Web. 5 April 2015

Crotta, Carol. Drawing a line on the lawn amid water conservation and drought. LA Times. 18
April. 2014. Web. 5 April. 2015.

Famiglietti, Jay. California has about one year of water stored. Will you ration now? LA Times.
12 March. 2015. Web. 5 April. 2015

Pushard, Doug. Christian, Sarkar. World Wide Water Conservation Cant Wait. harvesth2o. 24
February 2015.

Wolfram, Catherine. Zetland, David. Water conservations other benefit: Its a power saver. LA
Times. 3 March. 2014. Web. 5 April. 2015