Are you weird?
Charlottesville City Council has approved an unusually high water utility tax increase of 11.5% effective July 1, 2014. What does that mean? Most of us will see a significant increase in our utility bills unless we make a deliberate effort to decrease our water usage.
Besides the potential financial implications of this rate increase, efficient water use also has major environmental, public health, and economic benefits by helping to improve water quality, maintain aquatic ecosystems, and protect drinking water resources. To put it into perspective, here are some numbers for you to contemplate:
- The average human uses 70 gallons of water every day.
- Humans in the United States alone consume about 110 million gallons of water per day.
- There are approximately 7 billion humans occupying the earth, and every single one of them needs access to fresh water.
- 98% of the water on our planet is salt water, and about 1.6% of the earth’s freshwater is frozen in polar ice caps and glaciers. Most of the remaining freshwater lies deep underground and is inaccessible. That leaves less than 1% of the world’s fresh water available for drinking and other human use.
- Your body is 65% water, so you really don’t want to run out of fresh drinking water any time soon!
When it comes to saving water, small adjustments can have a big impact. We hope these creative tips help you along in your water-conserving efforts!