by Kelly Knight, Marketing Manager for The Good Table
In Our Community
Image: StateOfIsrael
It’s the worst drought we’ve seen for years here in California and in the west overall, and I’ve been thinking about how to reduce my personal water usage. Granted, the individual can only do so much, but together, we can make a collective difference.
Surprisingly, some of the methods to reduce water use are a little counter-intuitive, but let’s start with the ones that are obvious:
Shorter showers. Turn off the water when shaving, time yourself (I like to play music, and when I know two medium songs are done, so is my shower), use 2-in-1 products to cut down shampooing time.
Reduce landscaping water. Use drip irrigation instead of sprinklers, plant drought-resistant plants, reduce or get rid of your lawn.
More efficient laundry. Only doing laundry with a full load, and using high-efficiency washing machines if you can.
Better dishwashing. Most dishwashers these days are high-efficiency, and even if they’re not, they use water MUCH more efficiently than handwashing dishes. Reduce or eliminate hand-washing.
Now for things you might not expect:
Lower your electricity usage, and switch to renewable energy - electricity production in California requires a lot of water, and water requires a lot of energy.
Eat less meat, particularly red meat. Do you know what food has the largest global water footprint? Beef. It takes approximately 1,847 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef — that's enough water to fill 39 bathtubs all the way to the top.
Move away from high water use crops. The biggest water use crop in California is alfalfa, which is used to feed livestock, but after that, it’s almonds and pistachios, and then rice.
Advocate for high water use crops to be grown in other parts of the country where there is no drought. The Midwest is full of commodity grain, but could grow many other things. Get involved with The Farm Bill and advocate for diversification of crops across the country and supporting farmers.
Together we can make change and help turn things around, making California and the west a more sustainable place to live. The only way we’ll get through the upcoming crises is together.