Hello and welcome to Environmental Minute! This segment is brought to you by WDIY, in part by the Estate of Don Miles, and I am your host, Maddie Yang, a sophomore in high school at Moravian Academy, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I am super passionate about all things climate change, sustainability, and empowering and educating others to take action against the climate crisis. My goal for this segment is to provide listeners with a glimpse into a whole variety of topics in the vast realm of sustainability from biodiversity to ecotourism, and plant-based diets to sustainable swaps.
In this episode, we’re going to be talking about water conservation, which is a critical issue that often goes unnoticed.
Let me ask you something: when’s the last time you thought about where your water comes from? Or where it goes after you use it?
Most of us turn on the tap without a second thought. Clean water comes out, and we use it—for brushing our teeth, taking long showers, watering lawns, cooking, and cleaning. It seems like there’s always more of where that came from. But the truth is, water is not as infinite as it feels.
Actually, only about 2.5% of the Earth’s water is freshwater. And of that tiny percentage, less than 1% is easily accessible for human use. The rest is locked away in glaciers or deep underground. So, the water we depend on every day is actually part of a very limited supply.
And yet, we’re wasting it—constantly.
In the United States alone, the average person uses around 82 gallons of water per day. That’s just for one person. Multiply that by hundreds of millions, and that’s billions of gallons daily. And that’s not even including agriculture and industry, which use even more.
So why does water conservation matter?
It’s not just about saving water for the sake of saving water. It’s about protecting our ecosystems, ensuring food security, conserving energy, and more. It’s all connected.
When we overuse water, rivers run dry, wetlands shrink, and wildlife suffers. And when droughts hit, which are happening more often with climate change, our communities feel the impact in the form of water restrictions, crop failures, and even wildfires.
So let’s talk about what you can do.
First: turn off the tap while doing things like brushing your teeth or washing the dishes. A lot of that water is just going down the drain with no purpose
Second, check for leaks. A dripping faucet can waste over 3,000 gallons of water a year. That’s enough for more than 180 showers. Leaky toilets, pipes, sprinklers—they all add up, without you even knowing.
Third, use water-efficient appliances. Look for the EPA’s WaterSense label when buying toilets, showerheads, and faucets. They’re designed to use at least 20% less water without sacrificing performance.
Fourth, be smart with your landscaping. Lawns are one of the most water consuming parts of your home. Consider replacing some of that grass with native plants that need little to no watering (this also helps biodiversity, which we did an episode on back in May). Water your yard early in the morning or late in the evening to minimize evaporation. And avoid watering when it’s windy.
Conserving water means rethinking how we consume, so when we talk about water conservation, we’re also talking about sustainable living. Eating less meat, reducing food waste, buying fewer disposable products—all these choices help conserve water too.
And remember, access to clean water isn’t universal. Over 2 billion people around the world don’t have access to safe drinking water. That’s one in four. Water conservation here at home is part of a bigger picture—one that includes equity, justice, and our shared responsibility to the planet.
Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of Environmental Minute, and I hope this conversation has inspired you to think more critically about the importance of water conservation and its crucial role in affecting climate change. Until next time, I’m Maddie Yang, and this has been Environmental Minute.
