Every drop counts

By Inderjit Deogun
And herein lies the problem: Water’s so accessible that we’ve forgotten it’s a resource that’s increasingly scarce in many parts of the world.
Two years ago, I realized that I needed to take a look at the bigger picture. It’s not just the eight glasses of water I drink on a daily basis. I brush my teeth with water, bathe with water, cook with water, clean with water. Water is a resource I can’t live without.

(C) Bhupinder Deogun

Arriving at this truth prompted me to calculate my household water footprint. I was floored by what I found: I was consuming over 100,000 litres of water per year, which is the national average. I had to get to work.
First, I reduced how frequently I used the dishwasher simply by not running it until it was full. Second, I stopped watering the lawn. (I left that to nature.) Third, I put in a low-flow showerhead. Finally, when it was time for a replacement I upgraded to a high-efficiency front-loading washing machine. More often than not all I needed to make an impact was some common sense. After 4 months I had reduced my water footprint by more than half, a feat, that at first, I didn’t think was possible.
There’s never going to be a point in time when I won’t need water. But I do know that there’s still more I can do to reduce my water footprint. In fact, surfing WWF Canada’s new water footprint webpage, I learned that my water footprint extends well beyond the water I use directly in my home. The short video and infographic shows that everything I use and consume – food, clothes, electronics, electricity – requires water to be produced, and in some cases, in surprisingly large quantities. Learning this I’m more committed than ever to learn about and reduce the impact of my water footprint.