Planet Earth Has Less Water Than We Think!

A sobering realization, no? Think we maybe oughta not waste, contaminate and abuse this precious resource a little bit, eh?

As a child, you are told a lot of things about this great planet of ours. We are the third of nine planets in the Solar System (now eight and one dwarf planet), Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on the planet, and the Earth’s surface is 70% water. With a figure like that, it’s easy to assume that water is pretty much an infinite resource. However, according to the U. S. Geological Survey, if you were to take all of the water on the planet (including fresh water, sea water, ground water, water vapor and water inside our bodies), it would only make a sphere 860 miles in diameter. 860 miles!? You can drive that in a day – it’s about the distance from Salt Lake City to Topeka, Kansas.

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One of the easiest ways to conserve an appreciable amount of fresh water in your home is to remember the old saying, “If it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down”. Urine is sterile when it leaves the body, and diluted in a toilet bowl will not produce offensive odors… you’ll do a brown flush long before it’s had a chance to “ripen”.

Not something you’d want to do, I suppose, when company’s coming over for a dinner party, but in the course of our numerous normal days at home, this simple policy can conserve thousands of gallons of water over the course of a year. Plus it’s easier on your septic system, or easier on the water treatment plant handling your waste.