Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
As you've seen throughout this topic, more people are recogniz-
ing that learning—and change—must occur. The head-in-the-sand
approach to water won't work anymore. We simply can't take this
clear-gold twenty-fi rst-century commodity for granted any longer.
“We can't just think of water as something we need in terms of
something fl owing out of our tap when we turn on our faucets,” adds
the Sierra Club's Ken Kramer. “We need to think of it more comprehen-
sively, as something that's needed for both people and the environment,
and that environmental water needs also are important to people.”
You can make a difference. Every drop does count.
WATER REALITIES
Individuals, businesses, and communities all can and do
make a difference with conservation, concern, and aware-
ness of water issues.
Experts urge Americans to reevaluate how they use water
and to think in terms of needs versus wants.
A major approach to saving our precious water resources
involves planting native grasses and xeriscape instead of water-
consuming turf. Some utilities even offer cash rebates to custom-
ers who replace their lawns with low-water-use landscaping.
Other ways to combat big water wastes across the country
include fi xing leaky faucets and replacing older toilets with
new, low-water-use models. One leaky faucet or one old water-
guzzling toilet does make a difference when multiplied by the
millions of households across the country.
Nonpoint source pollution (NPS) or storm water runoff is a ma-
jor polluter of our water supplies. Efforts to cut down on NPS
include using pervious (porous) surfaces as opposed to solid con-
crete and asphalt, changing approaches to drainage, and raising
community awareness of the problem.
No matter what their politics, personal positions, or geographic
location, Americans must face the facts: Water no longer is an
infi nite resource. We all must recognize that how we have used
the resource in the past isn't necessarily the way of the future.
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