Water Conservation; Are you asking yourself what you can do to help? Today I witnessed a lady purchasing facet for her bathroom, she told the cashier that hers had a leak. She is in a city that has a drought restriction and has even had at least one automotive care business in the city go out of business in the current month due to water restrictions making it difficult to do business. Although the facet itself was a small expenditure, it represented what I believe is America’s greater awareness of the subject of sustainability especially in times of drought and areas of economic and population expansion.

Water is life for the human species and we must understand that when cycles come and go, there will be times when the precious commodity is stretched too thin. Have you asked yourself how you can save water in your life? Recently the City of Denver CO under the leadership of their governor and with help from the media; the city voluntarily saved 10% off their current usage.

Voluntarily people like Mary Ann Colson, the lady discussed above in the Home Depot checkout line is an example of the conscientious foresight we all need to curb the severity of our droughts. She was in a mid sized Idaho town outside Boise, ID the capital which is in a slight drought crisis, not as bad as NM or parts of Nevada or Arizona, but severe enough for people to take notice and to do the right thing. If all of us would follow Mary Ann’s example which even though was ever so slight, we can reduce by 10-20% easily and save the water in the reservoirs for farmers, hospitals, hotels and livestock and maybe even for us to drink. It is this type of small deed and selflessness that will help us all to a brighter and better tomorrow, we must admit there is a problem and band together to be the ones to fix it, all of us are liable for this.

We all use the water and we all need to watch how we use it. The farmers needs it to grow crops to keep prices down to feed the world and stay in business. You need it to drink, wash clothes and dishes and provide your family with a sanitary environment free from disease, mold, bacteria and dust. The businesses need it to, so they can provide jobs, make commerce, feed their families and provide their products and services to the community in which you live and then to the nation and then to the rest of the world in export in that order. We must and we can do it, but only through conscientious effort will it be possible. You see Mary Ann Colson had a plan that day, she wrote down on her lists of things to do, to fix that facet, although she did not call a plumber or understand all the plumbing she knew enough to buy a little tube of silicon clear caulking compound and a five dollar facet, which by the way should save her about $3-5 per month depending on that leak and it spares us all a little more breathing room. You ask yourself what can I do, I do not have any leaking facets? Do you; you don’t how do you know; does you toilet run extra long, can you bend the float in the float tank down to shut off the flush water sooner saving a glass or two per flush? Do you care, well you should and even if you do not care, you can still save a little can’t you? Because you may not care today, but tomorrow when the city water department says you cannot water your grass you will care then, when they say you cannot wash your own car you may care. Of course you can always call the Car Wash Guys, my company to wash your car for you? We use very little water to wash cars. Here are some tips on saving water brought to you by the people who do care and need to help you understand the seriousness of the issue at hand.

http://www.wateruseitwisely.com/

There are easy tips here to help you. The US Geological Society says situations are not getting any easier as areas continually expand and need more water, but they offer many suggestions on ways to help;

http://water.usgs.gov/education.html

American Water offers you 49 easy, I mean really simple things you can do to save water;

http://www.americanwater.com/49ways.htm

At the Cambridge Water Expo they came up with many ways to save water on shrubbery and gardens, take a peak they work;

http://www.cambridge-water.co.uk/savegarden.htm

It is even written in the Bible to save water did you know that;

http://www.lifewater.ca/donate.htm

"Whoever gives to one of these little ones a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward" (Matt. 10:42). And if fear of God is not enough to convince you and you will not listen to the wisdom of The Car Wash Guys then perhaps you believe in some of what the EPA, NOAA, USDA is saying;

http://www.epa.gov/reg3wapd/monitor/bookmark.htm

http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/gwswp/GWLinks/preliminary_assessments.htm

http://outreach.ecology.uga.edu/watershed/links.html

Remember we have been talking about this drought for awhile. We just have concluded a drought study in 6 parts last month and still no sign of relief to stop the problems. And just in case anyone thinks I am a hypocrite I wish to tell everyone right now I have been living on 6.8 gallons per day total allotment for 2 years while living in the motor home Corporate Command Center traveling the country; 210 gallons per month and after doing that I have no doubt if I had to I could cut it down to under 100 gallons per month very easily. What have you done to conserve water this month, what are you going to do tomorrow, do not complain about the drought or the restrictions that you have in place now or will soon unless you are willing to walk the talk America. Get busy and do something. Think on this.