14 Actions You Can Take To Protect Our Water
1. FIND OUT HOW MUCH WATER YOU USE.
Visit the Water Calculator website and see what you can do to cut back. www.h2oconserve.org
2. STOP DRINKING BOTTLED WATER.
Choose tap water over bottled water whenever possible. Create a bottled water free zone in your classroom, campus, workplace, union, community center, city hall, environmental organization, or faith-based group.
www.polarisinstitute.org/water
www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org
Thousands protest the local impact of Coke's bottling plant in Mehdiganj, India.
3. HELP CREATE A CLEAN WATER TRUST FUND.
Support public control of water resources and increased funding for public drinking water by signing a petition urging Congress to create a Clean Water Trust Fund. www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/trust-fund
4. CONSERVE WATER INSIDE.
Retrofit with efficient appliances and fixtures, take shorter showers, check faucets for leaks and drips.
5. CONSERVE WATER OUTSIDE.
Reduce lawn size and choose drought-tolerant xeriscapes. Recycle municipal water and on-site graywater, or harvest rainwater to use in the garden.
6. DON’T POLLUTE YOUR WATERSHED.
Stop using toxic cleaners, pesticides and herbicides. Properly dispose of pharmaceuticals and personal care products. www.watoxics.org/home-and-gardens
www.newdream.org/consumer/personalcare.php
7. LEARN ABOUT YOUR WATERSHED.
Join or form a watershed group. River Keeper organizations, Friends of Creeks groups, and watershed councils are springing up all over the country.
www.4sos.org/wssupport/group_support/form_run.asp
8. KEEP YOUR WATERSHED HEALTHY.
Support or start water-quality monitoring programs. Citizen-based water-quality monitoring is an accessible and meaningful way to understand the health of your waterways. www.healthywater.org
9. CLEAN UP AGRICULTURE.
Buy local and organic food. Help with the implementation of on-farm water conservation and protection programs,
www.polarisinstitute.org/water
10. PROTECT GROUNDWATER FROM DEPLETION AND DEGRADATION.
Help ensure legislation to manage and protect all groundwater. Unlike our system of surface-water rights, the extraction of unlimited quantities of groundwater is largely unregulated. www.groundwater.org
11. LEARN ABOUT DAMS IN YOUR AREA.
Oppose construction of new dams and always ask if planned dams are really necessary or if there are better, less destructive ways of conserving water, preserving floods or generating power.
12. REDUCE YOUR ENERGY USE.
Producing electricity uses lots of water. You can figure out how much energy you use at the Low Carbon Diet website. www.empowermentinstitute.net/lcd/index.html
13. SUPPORT THE RIGHT TO WATER FOR EVERYONE.
Learn about grassroots movements for water democracy and support for a United Nations covenant on the right to water. www.blueplanetproject.net
14. HELP SPREAD THE WORD.
Visit WaterConsciousness.org for more information or buy a copy of the must-read book, Water Consciousness.
www.waterconsciousness.org