Water Rights

I believe that no single person or company should be able to claim rights over water. Water is not something that should be owned no more than the air being owned. Our mentality to claim whatever we want in this world is preposterous. This type of greed is affecting communities all over the world for the worse. We can see the damage that this kind of mentality has created. “With two-thirds of the world’s population expected to run short of fresh drinking water by 2025, water has come to be known as “the oil of the 21st century.” Around the world, multinational corporations are parlaying the misery of our water-starved regions into profits for their stockholders and executives. In the United States, 86 percent of people get their household water services from a public utility. But some members of Congress and local politicians want to see private companies take over more water systems. And public utilities are struggling financially to meet federal clean water standards and to maintain and modernize water
systems.”(Care2)

These companies cannot be trusted. They’re taking water away from the community and then selling it back to them. Of course this is wrong. It’s happening all over the world and it’s only going to get worse. Unfortunately, these companies are taking in large amounts of water which causes the rivers and streams to be depleted so much so that they’re drying up. Can you image paying extra for a river on your land only to have it dried up from a company that’s pumping water for profit upstream? This is the problems a lot of communities are facing.

I think that communities should keep their water within their own community. To prevent major water shortages, proper water conservation is essential. I’ve decided to monitor my water usage to determine if I’m wasting water and to determine where I can conserve water. Here are the results for my water usage for one day:

Date: March 6, 2010
TIME ACTIVITY Amount of
Water Used
8:10 AM Flush Toilet 5 Gallons
8:13 AM Morning Shower for 15 minutes 60 Gallons
8:40 AM Brush Teeth (water not running while brushing) ½ Gallon
9:00 AM Drink of Water (tap water) 4 Cups
10:00 AM Flush Toilet 5 Gallons
10:30 AM Made Coffee 3 Cups
12:20 PM Made Lunch 8 Cups
12: 35 PM Flush Toilet 5 Gallons
1:30 PM Laundry to Wash 50 Gallons
2:00 PM Drink of Water (tap water) 8 Cups
2:10 PM Flush Toilet 5 Gallons
3:30 PM Washed Dishes (Dishwasher) 14 Gallons
4:00 PM Flush Toilet 5 Gallons
5:30 PM Cooked Dinner 1 Gallon
5:40 PM Made Iced Tea 1/5 Gallon
6:12 PM Flushed Toilet 5 Gallons
8:00 PM Washed Dishes by hand 3 Gallons
8:27 PM Flushed Toilet 5 Gallons
9:13 PM Bath 20 Gallons
9: 42 PM Brushed Teeth (water not running while brushing ½ Gallon
TOTAL WATER USED IN ONE DAY: 194.5 Gallons

http://www.stormwater.ucf.edu/toolkit/vol1/Contents/pdfs/Water%20Conservation/Water%20used%20handout.pdf

I utilized the above link to help me approximate my water usage. The amount seems high because it’s an average of my personal use plus that of household activities. Although, I think there are some ways in which I can reduce my water usage. For instance, the chart shows that you use less water in a bath than a shower. I’m really surprised by the amount of water used. I can’t imagine living somewhere that you only get a gallon of water a day if you’re lucky.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/who-should-own-our-water.html