How Does Conserving Water Help the Environment?
Around 96% of the water on Earth is saltwater, which isn’t suitable for supporting human and most animal life. Therefore, conserving the freshwater we have is essential — without it, almost every aspect of our lives would be impacted. By taking steps to reduce and optimize water use, we can also better support the environment.
Some ways that conserving water helps the environment include:
1. Ensuring All Living Things Have Access to Water
When we take steps to conserve water, we help ensure all living beings have continual access to water. While we may never run out of water on Earth as a whole, freshwater is a finite resource that requires effort to protect. Therefore, conserving water allows us to better preserve that limited resource and ensure life can thrive.
Similarly, agriculture relies on freshwater to yield enough crops. Water conservation ensures agriculture businesses have enough water to grow food and combat unexpected droughts, allowing them to be better equipped to feed the world.
2. Protecting the Climate
Water is one of the main reasons living things can exist on Earth. However, climate change is affecting the natural flow of water, increasing the rate of evaporation that can dry out some areas. The electricity used to produce safe and clean drinking water can contribute to higher greenhouse gas emissions, so saving water can help protect the environment. The environmental impact of these greenhouse emissions increases water pollution and rising sea levels.
3. Ensuring Areas With Limited Supply Have Access to Water
Conserving water helps ensure areas with limited water supply have access to the water they need. Saving water ensures these communities can keep their farmlands alive and that the lack of a consistent water supply doesn’t negatively impact their livelihoods or environments. Reducing water scarcity helps ensure the water supply can meet the growing demand for water worldwide.
4. Saving Energy and Money
Saving water helps reduce energy consumption because the demand for water production reduces as a result. This saved energy helps reduce carbon emissions that can damage the water supply and oceans, so it’s essential to save water whenever possible.
Additionally, conserving water helps save money by reducing what’s spent on wastewater treatment. Reducing water consumption and waste can also make homeowners’ and businesses’ utility bills more affordable.
5. Preserving Aquatic Life
Marine life relies on water to breathe and navigate ecosystems, and unclean water or retreating water levels can impact the well-being of various species.
How you use water affects the water quality used to preserve aquatic life. For example, the water you use enters septic systems for treatment. When water is overused, the water treatment system becomes overwhelmed and can have system failures that lead to leakages. If leaks happen, this water can enter aquatic systems and pollute the ecosystems. Regulating water usage ensures that aquatic wildlife doesn’t become endangered.
How Does Water Use Contribute to Energy Use?
Water and energy use go hand in hand. When water is used, it has to go to water treatment facilities before it can be filtered back into the system for reuse. Additionally, energy is used to transport and heat water, which increases overall energy usage when more water is used in the system.
Excess water usage increases how much energy is required to treat, transport and heat water, which increases greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions can hurt existing water supplies by increasing pollution, which reduces the viability of the water for consumption and use in agriculture. Polluted water needs additional treatment to make it clean and safe, which further increases energy usage.
Reducing water consumption is one of the best ways to decrease energy usage. Saving water reduces how often we need to treat, transport or heat water, which reduces overall emissions and helps protect the environment.
The Impact of Water Conservation on Energy Usage
Saving water can affect energy conservation by significantly reducing how much energy is used and the emissions released into the environment. Saving over 500,000 million gallons of water can turn into emissions savings comparable to taking 111,000 cars off the road for a year. Additionally, electricity savings from reducing water consumption are about 11% greater than the energy savings produced by electricity efficiency programs.
Water is used for all energy creation stages, including transporting, refining, processing and extracting fuel. Power plants also use plenty of water, especially for the equipment that cools water heated by generators. Treating and delivering water requires additional energy. Growing cities also need more energy to deliver water to municipalities.
Conserving water helps reduce the electrical energy required for treatment, processing and delivery. The saved water ensures plenty of supply left for power plants, homeowners and businesses. Conserving water can also help reduce the need to transport water to growing cities because water scarcity will become less of an issue, helping to reduce energy usage and lowering emissions that can negatively impact the environment and aquatic life.
Manage Water Conservation With TRC Companies
Diminishing freshwater resources, growing populations and expanding infrastructure can create significant business challenges. Conserving water is essential for the health of our planet, so it’s vital to take the necessary steps to ensure water doesn’t go to waste. TRC Companies can help you manage your water conservation efforts with our water quality and compliance services that can help with any project stage.
Our services allow you to focus on your business while we manage your water and wastewater processes. We have over 50 years of experience serving various industries, giving us the necessary knowledge and skill to help you with your water quality, compliance and permitting needs. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you improve your water conservation efforts.
