Many of us have no idea what our daily water usage is, but we know that current and future water crises mean we need to use water as productively as possible.

Understanding Daily Water Usage Helps Communities Become More Resilient to Crises

We built the Water Footprint Calculator to help people figure out their daily water usage through a series of simple questions about their routines and habits. The calculator accounts for not just how much water we use from the tap, but also the water it takes to produce the food we eat, the energy we use and the products we buy. This is called “virtual water,” and it is by far the biggest part of our water footprint.

Water Use and Drought; Are They Connected?

Drought is all over the news. California is at the center of the coverage and rightly so, given the severity of the situation there. But take a look around the rest of the country and the Golden State is not alone.

Washington and Oregon, states many associate with constant drizzle, have alarmingly low snowpack and declared drought emergencies across large portions of their land. Parts of the southern Great Plains are seeing failed wheat crops and dust storms, while southern Florida is experiencing a severe drought.  No part of the country is immune to drought, and in fact water managers from 40 US states anticipate at least some form of water shortage within the next 10 years.

The almond and its surprisingly large water footprint (one gallon – per nut!), has recently become the poster child for virtual water, but this world of hidden water is far bigger than thirsty almond groves. Consider these surprising numbers on the unseen water in everyday items:

• A single avocado uses 60 gallons of water to grow
• One cell phone takes 240 gallons to manufacture
• It takes 713 gallons to produce one cotton t-shirt
• A hamburger uses 660 gallons of water to make
• One gallon of gasoline takes three-to-six gallons of water to produce

When Governor Brown signed his executive order calling for less lawn watering and other cutbacks to Californians’ home water usage, it was another example of how we often address water shortages: Namely, cutting back on the water that pours out of our garden hoses, showerheads and faucets. These are certainly important changes that have an immediate impact on the crisis at hand. But according to our Water Footprint Calculator, the typical American uses about 2,200 gallons of water per day, and virtual water use makes up the vast majority of this water footprint.

Addressing our virtual water use is the real opportunity to make our communities more resilient to drought and other extreme weather events, although this requires us to think longer term. While turning off the tap as you brush our teeth will immediately save a gallon or two, skipping one hamburger is not going to put 660 gallons in your local reservoir. We need to think of the big picture and in creative ways. Choosing pasture-raised instead of industrially produced meat, for example, will support farmers who don’t rely largely on feed grains irrigated with limited groundwater or surface water supplies. Investing in energy efficiency or even renewable energy at home will help reduce our need for water-dependent power plants. Avoiding “fast fashion” clothing brands and instead buying vintage or well-made and long-lasting pieces will reduce how much water is required to grow cotton and manufacture your clothes.

These are just a handful of many individual choices that can help reduce our water usage and, collectively, they all send a signal to those who make what we use and the products we buy that we want a more sustainable future.

Water is indeed everywhere, but it is also needed to do just about anything. The important first step that we can all take right now is to find out how much water we really use. The daily choices we make to waste less water today, whether directly through the tap or virtually through our food, energy and shopping habits, can help us make sure that there’s enough for all of us now and in the future.

Originally published at GRACE’s former blog Ecocentric by Peter Hanlon on 04.28.2015. Image: Graphic created by GRACE.