Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Happy World Toilet Day!

Did you know that only 3% of the Earth’s water is freshwater, and it’s not evenly distributed around the world? 69% of the Earth’s freshwater is found in glaciers and icecaps, while 30% of the remainder is groundwater. Roughly 12% of the Earth’s freshwater is found in Brazil’s river basins. Some countries have easy access to this resource, while others have too little or too much.

You know from previous posts that you can get involved in water conservation and cleanup in your local area through stream monitoring.  Following are two additional aspects to water conservation – you can help here too!

One simple way your water use can help the environment is to stop buying bottled water.  The energy spent just to make the bottles is a huge waste of resources. 

So we can look at the water we drink, but what about the “other end?”  Globally, water quality is threatened by the fact that 2.5 billion (yes, that’s billion with a “b”) people don’t have access to a toilet.  That’s a human and environmental disaster, and it’s why the UN has declared 11/19/2014 as World Toilet Day.  It’s a chance to learn about this issue and find about about ways we can help.

Want to learn more about creative water conservation projects?  Check out this article from Conservation magazine.

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