Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
deal with America's water crisis.* It laid out seven factors that must
be addressed:
1. Implement a national water census
2. Improve hydrologic prediction models and applications
3. Develop collaborative tools and processes for U.S. water solutions
4. Develop a new generation of water-monitoring techniques
5. Develop and expand technologies for enhancing reliable water
supply
6. Develop innovative water-use technologies and the tools to
enhance public acceptance of them
7. Improve understanding of the water-related ecosystem services
and ecosystem needs for water
*Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, U.S.
House of Representatives, “A National Water Initiative: Coordinating and Improving Federal
Research on Water,” June 23, 2008, http://gop.science.house.gov/Media/hearings/energy08/
july23/charter.pdf; National Water Research and Development Initiative Act of 2009, summary
of major provisions, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&sid=cp111alJsu&refer=&r_
n=hr076.111&db_id=111&item=&sel=TOC_36907&.
INDIVIDUALS CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
When it comes to water use, individuals can make a difference. If in
a single day everyone across the country saved one gallon of water
the total savings would be a quarter-billion gallons of water.
Still not convinced that each person can make a difference?
Remember the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Drip Accumulator
we talked about in Chapter 3? One dripping faucet does add up
to a big deal (http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/sc4.html). One fau-
cet that drips 60 times per minute at an estimated ¼ milliliter per
drip (USGS's estimate) loses 86,400 drips, or 5 gallons, per day
and 2,082 gallons per year. Multiply that by the number of house-
holds in the United States—105,480,101 in 2000, according to
U.S. Census numbers—and that's an amazing 219.6 billion gallons
of water wasted every year. Of course, not every household in the
country has a drippy faucet. Or does it?
