Have you ever wondered how much water you use? Even though the average American uses 100 gallons a day, the actual amount you use may vary greatly. National Geographic has created this interactive (and in my opinion, pretty entertaining) water footprint calculator. It can be found at:
This is a very thorough questionnaire. It start off by asking where your zip code, household size, year of your house, and what water using amenities you have in it such as sinks, toilets, showers. It even asks if any of them have been replaced recently to use less water. It then asks you about your usage habits of these and any other things you may have that use water such as a dishwasher.
It doesn’t just stop there. It asks you about your eating habits because it takes a lot of water to feed America whether it is to water livestock or plants. It then follows that with your energy usage, and finally, the things you buy (especially clothing and paper products). You’re able to see how your water consumption changes as you answer each question and you can see the average American usage statistic for each question.
At the end, it’ll tell you your usage summary. For me, I use less water, on average, in my home in Charlottesville, my food consumption, and the things I buy. However, I can reduce transportation and energy usage. I urge all of you to try this: it takes 5 minutes and you may be shocked at how much water you’re actually using.
This directly relates to the hydrosphere and human water consumption. Because we only have 0.3% of freshwater available to us, we need to be smart about our usage. Additionally, our water resources vary based on the area we live in so there may be an abundance or shortage if people are using water without having an idea of how much.
I really liked this website because it really gave a complete picture of the amount of water an individual actually consumes. Combined with the fact that only 0.3% of water is available for human consumption, it’s shocking how much water a singular person can consume. It’s clear that humans have a large impact on Earth’s hydrological cycle, simply by the amount we consume on a daily basis.
I found this website very interesting! I was surprised not only to find out how my use of water compares to the average American, but I was also surprised to find out how so much water goes into the production of paper, and poultry and other things that I would not have necessarily thought of.
My water usage came up as Below Average!
I live in Southern California (shoutout to the drought) so I’ve grown up learning water-conservation habits such as taking short showers, not running the water while I brush my teeth, and not washing the car unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. Most of my water consumption is actually attributed to the production of food.
Another component of my lifestyle that helped lower my water usage was the fact that I live in an apartment complex with no pools, no yards, and highly efficient communal washer-dryer facilities. All these things help reduce water. The washer-dryer component is especially important, because the limited number of machines available means that most people restrict their laundry to only once or twice a week, and out of courtesy for others, will only do full loads. These practices all help limit water usage in SoCal, which we desperately need.
This is an very interesting website! I have been heard about some reasons for being vegetarian, and I was a little confused about how it would save water. After completing this activity I have a clearer idea on how the diet can influence the water consumption. The amount of water that requires for livestocks is higher that I thought!
I thought this website was not only interesting, but also very informative. I have never realized how much water Americans use daily until I took this quiz. What surprised me most was that 95% of my water use is from the processes used to make the food I eat, the energy, products and services I use. Now that I am aware of how water consumption is affected, I can act more consciously!
I think this kind of websites are great because they make you think about issues and what you are personally doing to contribute to the problem. It is one thing to hear that the average American consumes 100 gallons of water every day and picture someone else wasting all this water but once you realize how much water you actually consume then it really gets you think.