Kids in Sierra Leone at a water pump.

by the Staff at Blue Planet Run

For each of us who cares about the environment, one of the most important lessons we can teach our children is that small changes we make can positively impact even large problems—like the global water crisis.

Something as basic as clean water is unavailable to over a billion people (that’s 1 of 6 of us). Because hours are spent walking long distances to fetch and carry water back home, many women and children are unable to go to school or get a job. Even here in the United States, water shortages and droughts are becoming more common in the Southeast, Southwest, and this year in California.

There are easy, simple ways you can help combat the water crisis—right inside your own home. We at Blue Planet Run, a non-profit organization that supports safe water projects around the world, have selected 10 of our favorite things you can teach your family to do to save water:

1. Take a shower instead of a bath and save 21 gallons of water.
2. Turn off the water when you brush your teeth and save 1.5 gallons each time.
3. If you wash dishes by hand, rinse them in a large bowl or sink instead of running the tap, and you’ll save a whopping 15–25 gallons!
4. If you use a dishwasher, use the short cycle and save 8 gallons.
5. Running the dishwasher or clothes washing machine only when full will minimize both water and energy usage.
6. Buy a front-loading washing machine instead of a top-loading one and you’ll use 24 gallons instead of 40 per load.
7. Challenge your family to take 5-minute showers and install an ultra-low-flow shower head.
8. Want to save another 20–30 gallons of water? Use the shower just to get wet and lather up, then again to rinse and you’ll use just 5 gallons.
9. When shaving, use a bowl or the sink instead of running the tap and save 19 gallons of water.
10. Install a low-flow toilet and reduce the number of flushes. An alternative is to put a 1-gallon plastic jug of water in the toilet tank, which will reduce the amount of water used for flushing by 12 gallons per day.

Want to learn more? Visit our website, blueplanetrun.org, register for our
newsletter, and get a free download of our book Blue Planet Run: The Race to
Provide Safe Drinking Water to the World. In addition to watching our videos and
reading success stories of our safe water projects, you can also find Eco-Citizen
books (including some for kids and teens) that remind us all that small changes
can make a big difference.

If you want to do more, tell your friends and family about the water crisis, add
us to you Facebook page, forward this article, volunteer with us, or make a donation.
Small changes matter, even when the problems are big.

©2009 Blue Planet Run

Image by Blue Planet Run.

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