Reducing water waste

Alexandra Cousteau visited NMU a few years ago. During this visit she talked about her connection to water, its importance and its misuse. For some reason I've really been thinking about this today...my theory is that it's due to the fact that I've been cleaning up the kitchen and finding a lot of half drunken pops and water bottles.  But it's just a theory.

Alexandra Cousteau

There are two things that I specifically remember from Cousteau's presentation was that water isn't as abundant as I presume and one person changing their habits may not make that big of a difference but a group of people changing their habits can make an impact.

I live by Lake Michigan, grew up on the shores of Lake Huron, and attend school located on the shore of Lake Superior. The Great Lakes contain 21% of the world's fresh water supply. When I studied abroad, the school/dorms were on the shores of Biwako (Japan's largest freshwater lake). Deserts, however, don't have the luxuries of high water abundance. Not everyone gets a shower every day or knowing that when they wanted a drink it would come without fail.

Two ways to save water that Cousteau pointed out that stuck with me were: when making coffee only make that which is proportional to what you are going to be drinking at that point and empty your pop/ice out before pitching it in the trash when out at a restaurant. Never have these methods of wasted water before crossed my mind.

At that point in my college career, I wasn't that much of a coffee drinker. But now that I can't really survive without it, I only make it by the cup on a consistent basis. This is done by putting only one mug of water into the coffee maker. Yes, I measure it by the mug that I'm using that day. Unless I know that it's going to be a long night then I make a whole pot. If there are leftovers, I refrigerate them. Not a particularly ideal situation but none of it gets wasted.

Throwing away bottles that still have water in it is problematic because you are removing that water from the ecosystem. This process puts it into a system that cannot reuse or reintroduce the water into the ecosystem.

I'm still working on dumping out the pop/ice before I toss/recycle the cup. Old habits die hard. But I've also found an alternative that removes me from this problem. Don't order a drink. Most of the time I carry a reusable water bottle, that way I always have something to drink and when it runs out I simply refill it along the way.

Anyone else have any other ideas of how to reduce water waste?