Water

Conservation
the key to solving the problem
of water scarcity
The Situation
What is the problem?
While the amount of freshwater(water which
we can drink) has remained constant due to
continual recycling through the water cycle,
the world population has increased at an
alarming rate, leaving the world’s water
resources in crisis.
While 70% of the world is covered by water,
only 2.5% of it is fresh. Only 1% of the
freshwater is accessible, with much of it
trapped in glaciers and snowfields.
Only 0.007% of the planet’s water is
available for people to drink.
What is the solution?
There is no quick end to this problem, since
it took millions of years to evolve into this
situation of water scarcity.
Human beings will have to work together to
spread awareness on this environmental
issue and change their lifestyle in order to
bring about a big change, the more people
involved the bigger the change.
Viewers are suggested to read the following
slides on daily activities in the form of do’s
and don'ts which, when incorporated into
their daily routine, would help to conserve
water for centuries to come.
In The Bathroom
DO
a) Take short showers.
[save 5 to 7 gallons a minute]
b) Install water-saving toilets
and showerheads.
c) Place a plastic bottle filled
with water in your toilet tank if
you can’t switch to a low flow
toilet.
DON’T
a) Run the tap while brushing
your teeth, washing your
hands etc.
[save 2-3 gallons a minute]
b) Use the toilet to flush bits of
trash, and flush
unnecessarily.
In The Kitchen/Laundry
DO DON’T
a) Run the washing machine a) Let the water run while
and dishwasher only when full. washing dishes.
b) Install faucet aerators. [save 2-3 gallons a minute]
c) Use minimal quantity of b) Run water to make it cold.
detergent as much as possible.
d) Keep a container of water in
the fridge.
[alternative of (b) in the Don’t
section]
In The Garden
DO DON’T
a) Change or deactivate automatic a) Water the lawn on windy
sprinklers. days due to excessive
b) Put a layer of mulch(decaying evaporation.
leaves, bark, or compost) around
[With increase of wind speed,
trees or plants.
there is an increase of
[This slows down evaporation.] evaporation.]
c) Use a self-closing nozzle on
your hose.
b) Overwater your lawn or
plants.
d) Water your lawn or plants before
9 AM or after 7 PM.
[alternative of (b) in the Don’t
section]
 takes energy to get energy?…
energy cost: energy used to make the energy in a resource
available
net energy = (energy in a resource) minus (energy cost)
net-energy ratio = (energy in a resource) divided by (energy cost)
net-energy ratio larger than 1 = net energy gain
net-energy ratio smaller than 1 = net energy loss
a resource’s easy deposits all consumed → energy cost increased
→ resource used much faster
energy conserved or used efficiently → energy costs kept down
 takes efficiency to get energy…
energy efficiency: amount of useful work extracted from one unit of
energy
law of conservation of energy:
(energy before event) = (energy after event)
However, some energy is nearly always lost in the transfer as heat.
higher energy efficiency →
 less wasted energy
 longer-lasting non-renewable resources
 energy costs kept lower