Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 1.5
Daily indoor water use
Use
Gallons per capita
Percentage
Toilets
8.2
18.0
Clothes Washers
10.0
22.1
Showers
8.8
19.5
Faucets
10.8
23.9
Leaks
4.0
8.8
Baths
1.2
2.7
Dishwashers
0.7
1.5
Other uses
1.6
3.4
mated that 20 percent of all toilets leak, and this accounts for 14 percent
of home water use.
Clothes washers are present in 81 percent of American homes. Newer
models use half the water of older models, but washing machines are
durable and are not replaced often, so the change to newer models will
be slow. Rapid change can be instituted in our showering habits, not by
showering less frequently but by running the water briefl y, only before
and after soaping, instead of the common American habit of standing
under the full fl ow for perhaps fi ve minutes to relax a stressed body.
Conservation is the most cost-effective solution to water scarcity.
Forty million acres of America are covered in lawns, our largest irri-
gated crop, and one that can be accurately described as ecological geno-
cide. Home lawn and landscape irrigation consumes an average of more
than 8 billion gallons of water daily, equivalent to 14 billion six-packs
of beer.
22
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
one-third of all residential water use in the United States is devoted to
irrigation—almost none of it necessary. Many cities and some states in
the Southeast and Southwest report that 50 percent of their residential
water use is outdoors, primarily for lawns. In 2008, satellite data revealed
that lawns (99.96 percent) and golf courses (0.04 percent) in the United
States cover nearly 50,000 square miles, or 32 million acres, an area
roughly the size of New York State.
Probably the largest manicured and watered lawn in the United States
surrounds the White House. It extends over 18 acres and is under the
jurisdiction of the National Parks Service. In order to encourage better
uses of America's lawn areas, President Obama in 2009 authorized the
cultivation of an organic vegetable garden fertilized with compost for his
