List: '15 ways to Practice Water Conservation at Home'

Today’s ‘List Friday’. Water. It’s a precious commodity [1]. I’m familiar with the concept of ‘carbon footprint’. But less so ‘water footprint’ [2]. A nation’s water footprint’s the water quantity needed to produce its goods and services. As the map shows, Australia has a middle ranked per capita national water footprint [3]. But we’re our planet’s driest inhabited continent [4]. And one that’ll get drier due to climate change. So we can’t rest on our laurels. Making usable water by desalination’s horrendously expensive [5], and thus impractical. So we must conserve water. Water conservation’s a process that must be managed at national, state, community, household and personal levels. This week’s list focuses on household and personal water conservation. Titled ‘15 ways to Practice Water Conservation at Home’ it stems from planetgreen in early September [6]. The ‘15 Ways’ are divided into kitchen, bathroom, laundry and outdoors. They’re simple and commonsense. I’m already a water conservationist. Because all the usable water here’s rainwater collected from rooves and stored in tanks, I don’t pay any water tax/rate to a government authority. So my motivation to conserve water’s anxiety about the tanks running dry. As I’m off the water grid, I doubt my usage is counted in the national water footprint. But I do my best anyway. Those on the water grid can save money by conserving water – as well as reducing the national water footprint.