Wastewater, too, requires processing. For the most part, these processes are made possible only by burning fossil fuels. This means wasting water also impacts carbon footprint and air quality, and needlessly depletes our shrinking fossil fuel resources.

Furthermore, in places where clean water is scarce, overusing or wasting household water limits the availability of it for other communities to use for drinking, cleaning, cooking, or growing—and thus contributes to disease, illness, or agricultural scarcity and starvation.

This unsustainable practice decreases long term water security and availability. Furthermore, and almost most importantly, water takes a lot of energy, time and money to filter and clean so that it’s drinkable. Wasting water or overusing household water means you’re wasting the energy-intensive process of filtration.

It’s not outright wasted, but the vast majority of water on earth is in some undrinkable form. So you’re actually, in most cases, wasting potable water. This doesn’t factor in the massive amount of electricity used to process wastewater back into potable water in some cities.

25 ways to save water

1. Check your toilet for leaks.
2. Stop using your toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket.
3. Put a plastic bottle in your toilet tank.
4. Take shorter showers.
5. Install water-saving shower heads or flow restrictors.
6. Take baths.
7. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth.
8. Turn off the water while shaving.

The average person unknowingly wastes up to 30 gallons of water every day.

An average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water daily—70 percent of which occurs indoors. The largest use of household water is to flush the toilet, followed by taking showers and baths.

Each day in the United States approximately one pound of food per person is wasted. This equates to 103 million tons (81.4 billion pounds) of food waste generated in America in 2017, or between 30-40 percent of the food supply, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

3,000 gallons

Estimates vary, but, on average, each person uses about 80-100 gallons of water per day, for indoor home uses. Are you surprised that the largest use of household water is to flush the toilet, and after that, to take showers and baths?

101.5 gallons

Domestic water use is water used for indoor and outdoor household purposes— all the things you do at home: drinking, preparing food, bathing, washing clothes and dishes, brushing your teeth, watering the garden, and even washing the dog.

Outdoor watering accounts for almost 30 percent of water use, according to an analysis published by Environment Magazine. But toilets (19 percent), washing machines (15 percent), showers (12 percent), and faucets (11 percent) also use substantial amounts.

Major sources of water pollution are discharge of domestic and agriculture wastes, population growth, excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers and urbanization. Bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases are spreading through polluted water and affecting human health.

EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION

• Destruction of biodiversity. Water pollution depletes aquatic ecosystems and triggers unbridled proliferation of phytoplankton in lakes — eutrophication —.
• Contamination of the food chain.
• Lack of potable water.
• Disease.
• Infant mortality.

Water pollution can cause water to become toxic to humans and the environment. Water is an essential resource for all life on Earth. If a water source becomes contaminated due to pollution, it can lead to health issues in humans, such as cancer or cardiovascular conditions.

Water Pollution Stats Around The World The top three nations with the greatest number of pollution related deaths per year are India, China, and Nigeria, with India being responsible for 2.33 million deaths and Nigeria being responsible for 279,318 deaths per year.

Along with amazing technological advances, the Industrial Revolution of the mid-19th century introduced new sources of air and water pollution. By the middle of the 20th century, the effects of these changes were beginning to be felt in countries around the world.

Water pollution happens when toxic substances enter water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans and so on, getting dissolved in them, lying suspended in the water or depositing on the bed.

Population growth, economic development, urbanisation and climate change will have a big impact on water issues by 2050. Some 780.000 people die annually from drinking polluted water, compared to 1,100 from drought, 6,000 from floods. …

If drinking water contains unsafe levels of contaminants, it can cause health effects, such as gastrointestinal illnesses, nervous system or reproductive effects, and chronic diseases such as cancer.

Long-term health effects from air pollution include heart disease, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases such as emphysema. Air pollution can also cause long-term damage to people’s nerves, brain, kidneys, liver, and other organs. Some scientists suspect air pollutants cause birth defects.

Mercury and lead would still seep into water supplies. Radioactive materials would still be absorbed by organisms and cause cancer. There would still be fungal blooms that deplete the oxygen in vast areas on the ocean. So in a world without human produced pollution…in many ways…the same still occurs.