I never saw the finer points of Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner when I was 13 and having to learn it in my English Literature class. It was more like “What’s it on about, anyway?”
Well, a couple of years (or so!) later and I now I’ve made my own sense of it – just substitute the Albatross with Mother Nature and our total disregard for it as the crossbow that slayed it.

It shouldn’t be any surprise to anybody that we face a global water crisis. But, much like the air we breathe every day, most of us probably take clean water for granted and never think about how much we all depend on it for drinking, agriculture, sanitation, and hygiene.

The following information is from the Global Citizen Corps website:

According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), more than 1 billion people – about one in six people in this world – have no access to clean and safe drinking water while over 2 billion lack access to adequate sanitation. The effects of unclean water often lead to an endless cycle of poverty, conflict, disease and death.

If we continue to follow the current trend, by the year 2025 two thirds of the people in this world will not have sufficient access to clean water.

At any moment, almost half the population in developing countries is suffering from a disease linked to lack of access to clean water and sanitation. Women and children are most affected.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that 1.8 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. That’s one death every eight seconds. Not only that but women and children around the world walk 200 million hours every day for water that often comes from a polluted source. The time spent fetching water often prevents them from earning a living or going to school.

That’s just staggering to me and should be to you, too. So, what can we do about it? What can our contribution be to trying to conserve what we have? Well, here are a few tips that hopefully you will find helpful (if not completely obvious!):

around the house

• find and fix all leaks – especially toilet leaks
• install water-saving devices – like low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators (check with you local water board as you may be able to get these for free)
• consider buying a front-loading washing machine – these save water and energy over the circa 1950-esque versions still on the market today
• run dishwashers and washing machines with full loads only – or adjust the water level to match the size of the load
• don’t leave the water running – when brushing your teeth, washing your hands, shaving or doing the dishes
• use the waste basket instead of the toilet to dispose of trash
• take shorter showers – cut your shower to 4 minutes to save around 2,700 gallons per year
• use the garbage disposal only if you must
• consider buying a High Efficiency Toilet (HET) – which uses only 1.4 gallons or less per flush

watering the garden

• attach a nozzle with a shutoff valve to the end of your hose
• apply water only as fast as the soil can absorb it otherwise you’ll get runoff
• consider installing drip irrigation to apply water slowly and directly to the root system rather than watering the driveway, windows and your neighbour’s car
• water your garden in the morning to give the water time to soak in before wind and heat cause it to evaporate
• water to the depth of the plant roots
  • about 6 inches for lawns
  • 9 inches for ground cover
  • 12 inches for shrubs, and
  • 18-24 inches for trees
• use a soil probe (or dig down in the plant’s root area using a trowel) to determine if you are watering properly
• water your garden only when it needs it – it’s time to water the lawn only when it doesn’t spring back when walked on
• aim your sprinklers to water your garden!
• adjust your watering schedule
  • with the weather and season – don’t forget to shut it off in the winter!
  • as it matures – newly planted landscapes need to be watered more frequently than mature ones
• check you sprinkler system for problems regularly (such as the “30 foot gusher because the sprinkler head flew off” issue)

what plants?

• plant water-conserving plants
• group thirsty plants together and away from ones that don’t drink as much
• improve your soil by incorporating organic matter which aerates the soil and improves it’s ability to hold water
• prevent weeds from stealing much needed water by pulling them promptly and applying mulch regularly
• mow grasses higher – between 3 to 4 inches – to reduce water loss
• fertilise less often – only in the spring and autumn – fetrising encourages rapid growth and thirsty plants. California native plants do not need fertilising.
• aerate the lawn by punching holes in the soil – this imroves the movement of water into the root area and reduces runoff

other outdoor activities

• use a broom and not a hose, to clean your driveway or sidewalk and pathways
• cover pools and spas and cut water loss by 90%!!
• don’t let the hose run while run while you:
  • wash your car
  • wash your hair
  • text message your friend
  • call your mother …

So, if the above had you muttering ‘obvious’ under your breath, then why not click here and take the Water Test to see how much you really know about the global water situation and what we can do about it?

“And every tongue, through utter drought,
Was withered at the root ;
We could not speak, no more than if
We had been choked with soot.”