The Wonderwater Cafe Will Show You How Much Water You Eat

The statistics around water consumption are staggering. And while taking shorter showers or even skipping showers all together can save significant amounts of water, these personal conservation tips are nothing compared to the bigger, thornier question of how we tackle water use in agriculture, manufacturing and other industrial processes.

Wonderwater, a new pop up cafe which has already made appearances in Beijing and Helsinki, is looking to set the record straight and spark new conversations about the realities of water use:

- Water scarcity will be an increasingly critical issue as global populations rocket towards 9 billion in 2050, as reported by scientists at the World Water Week conference in Stockholm this week
- Currently, the average UK citizen consumes 4,645 litres of water per day, with more than 60% of this water coming from overseas (www.waterfootprint.org)
- The water we consume 'indirectly' through the production of major items such as food, clothing and paper is far greater than our domestic water use, which accounts for just 150 litres per day.

Visitors to the cafe, which will be setting up at Leila's Shop in Shoreditch as part of the London Design Festival from the 12th to the 23rd September, will be able to select items from the menu that have low, medium and high water footprints, while perusing backdrops with infographics and "surprising facts" about water consumption.

As Simran Sethi's recent TED talk explained, assailing people with facts is not always the best way to create change. It's in making the personal connections between the issues and how they impact our daily lives and the lives of our loved ones that we start to see people behaving differently.

It will be interesting to see whether Wonderwater can serve up that kind of consciousness shift on its menu.

How Much Water is on The Earth -- Really?

This drawing shows the size of a sphere that would contain all of Earth's water in comparison to the size of the Earth. The blue sphere sitting on the United States, reaching from about Salt Lake City, Utah to Topeka, Kansas, has a diameter of about 860 miles (about 1,385 kilometers) , with a volume of about 332,500,000 cubic miles (1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers). The sphere includes all the water in the oceans, seas, ice caps, lakes and rivers as well as groundwater, atmospheric water, and even the water in you, your dog, and your tomato plant. Image courtesy: USGS/Public Domain

I know, I know. I always seem to be harping on water - it's availability; drinkability; distribution; conservation vs pollution; use vs misuse; and, on and on ad nauseum. I have been saying for a long time now that water will become the new currency; and, if you can't afford to pay, you die of thirst - that simple.

It's hard for those of us who are still able to turn on a tap and have clean, clear drinkable flow right into our glasses to believe that lives have been lost in the effort to obtain good, clean drinking water. Click here, or here or even here.

Maybe this will put some things into perspective.

While it looks like the planet's surface is covered mostly in water, the fact is there is very little water on this planet when you compare it to the size of the planet as a whole. The USGS created this image to give us a little perspective.

USGS states, "About 70 percent of the Earth's surface is water-covered, and the oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth's water. But water also exists in the air as water vapor, in rivers and lakes, in icecaps and glaciers, in the ground as soil moisture and in aquifers, and even in you and your dog. Still, all that water would fit into that "tiny" ball. The ball is actually much larger than it looks like on your computer monitor or printed page because we're talking about volume, a 3-dimensional shape, but trying to show it on a flat, 2-dimensional screen or piece of paper. That tiny water bubble has a diameter of about 860 miles, meaning the height (towards your vision) would be 860 miles high, too! That is a lot of water."

It may be a lot of water, but almost all of it is not usable for us. Over 96% is saline water in the oceans, and of the fresh water that's left, most of that is locked up in ice at the poles, is underground were we don't reach it, or is in the atmosphere.

Perhaps this will give us some perspective on how truly precious a resource water really is. Please conserve whenever possible and don't pollute this diminishing resource.

Britain in Midst of Severe Drought

Keeping water restrictions forefront in the public's mind even comes by way of bus advertisement. Photo courtesy: Bonnie Alter

I was sitting in my livingroom this afternoon watching the tradesperson power wash my balcony. Our complex has chosen to clean up the building and remove algal growth by the use of highly-pressurized water. As I watched the copious amounts of water being used drain off the balcony, I realized our complex had used enough water to supply a small village for one year for this one single purpose.

How totally wasteful when other countries are suffering through droughts with barely enough clean drinking water to satisfy the peoples' thirst.

It's the driest spring since 1976 and the south east part of England is under watering restrictions. They will affect 20 million people and there is a £1,000 ($1,500) fine for flouting the rules.

The cause is two years of very low rainfall and unseasonably dry weather. Reservoirs are well below normal levels and some tributaries of the Thames River have been reduced to mere trickles.

Water is precious and we should all be trying to use less of it in everyday life. During the last drought there was a 10% reduction in demand for water, so people can do it. The funny thing about the ban is that the restrictions are things that we should be doing all the time, not just during a drought.

For example, using grey water, which is recycled household water, to water plants.

One way around water restrictions is to collect rain water in a rain barrel or butt. Photo courtesy: crocus

--Getting a rainwater barrel (called butts in the UK) for the garden and collecting rain water in it. This can then be used to water plants. In fact, many people are doing this--so far three times the amount sold last year have already been snatched up by eager gardeners. Rain water is actually healthier for your plants than tap water as it does not have all the additives we put in our drinking water.

--Use a watering can to water plants: double the number of these have also been sold to date.

--Using a trickle irrigation system in the garden--they release the water gradually and are more efficient. Trickle irrigation systems can use approx. 50% less water than traditional irrigation systems.

--No filling the wading pool with a hose, although buckets of water are allowed.

--No filling up the swimming pool either.

--Washing your car with a bucket and elbow grease, not with the hose.

So how bad is it to use a hose? Apparently "hosepipes typically use 225 litres in 15 minutes – that's 900 litres in an hour. When used they tend to be left on for long periods of time, so a hosepipe ban is seen as a relatively effective way to cut down on excessive water usage."

The Trafalgar Square fountain. Photo courtesy: Mike Fleming

The glorious fountain in Trafalgar Square is going to be switched off as part of the ban. So will 29 other fountains in the London area. But not the Diana Memorial Fountain as it has its own borehole supply.

But even if everyone behaved and followed the ban, the problem would not be solved. Despite the best intentions, the real issue is the water companies: they lose 3.36 billion litres of water a day in leaks. If the leaks were fixed there would be more than enough water. Thames Water was the worst; losing more than 600 million litres a day.

The ban is crucial to saving wildlife which has suffered since the winter in some areas. One official explained "This hosepipe ban is an essential part of dealing with a crisis which could be devastating for wildlife in our countryside. Reducing demand now will help keep more water in the environment, keeping rivers flowing for longer and protecting their precious wildlife."

As for enforcing the ban...the seven water companies have said that they won't be because they've "got better things to do with our money, like fixing leaks."

Sued for Conserving Water?

Photo courtesy: Care2

It's one of those snafus that only government authorities can create. One that causes you to shake your head and wonder how red tape can promote such idiocy.

Governor Schwarzenegger has always tried to do the environmentally-friendly thing when it comes to making decisions that affect Californians. Now it would seem that the bureaucrats in Orange, California are determined to undo a bit of the progress the Governor has made conserving some of the Earth's precious resources.

Quan and Angelina Ha recently had a baby girl. Along with the baby came a change of thinking for the Has. They started re-evaluating their lifestyle, their priorities, and their personal responsibilities in trying to halt global warming. Mr. Ha explains: "We've got a newborn, so we want to start worrying about her future."

Commendable, one would think. However, the city of Orange has threatened them with a lawsuit over the state of their lawn. What could they have possibly done to their lawn that would cause the city to consider a lawsuit against them, you ask. The answer will surprise you.

Angelina and Quan Ha walk through their frontyard with daughter Zella. After the city informed them that their property was not up to code, they added bark, fencing and drought-tolerant plants. Photo courtesy: Los Angeles Times (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times / February 25, 2010)

It all started two years ago when the Has decided to remove all the grass in their yard in an effort to help safeguard their daughter's future. The city complained - the dirt was unacceptable. The Has, conscientious citizens, covered the entire yard with wood chips in an attempt to comply with the city's request.

Not having to water their thirsty yard had the potential to save tens of thousands of gallons of water and hundreds of dollars a year. It seemed the environmentally responsible thing to do. After all, California is one of the most drought-affected states in the USA. Three years of successive drought has lowered the reservoirs to a critical level.

Water is a key political and economic issue in California, as in other parts of the Southwest. There is ongoing wrangling between agricultural and residential water interests, and concern grows that water will be the new oil, a conflict-prone linchpin and threat for the long-term viability of the state.

But city officials determined the wood chip fix was not acceptable. They pointed to a city ordinance that says that 40% of the yard be landscaped predominantly with live plants.

"Compliance, that's all we've ever wanted," said Senior Assistant City Atty. Wayne Winthers.

Last summer, the couple tried to appease the city; and, still maintain an almost water-free yard by building a fence around the yard and planting drought-tolerant greenery -- lavender, rosemary, horsetail and pittosporum, among others.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Quan and Angelina Ha reduced their annual water usage from 299,221 gallons in 2007 to 58,348 gallons in 2009: an 80% savings. Quan Ha pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor for violating county codes.

Now, here comes the rub. A California Public Policy Institute report estimates that more than half of all residential water used is wasted on lawn and outdoor plant care. California's Water Use Efficiency website urges conservation efforts, including: "Water-efficient landscape designs using low water-use plants" and "Minimized turf areas."

Ironically, by abiding by the recommendations of the state water agency, the Ha family leaves itself open to prosecution by the city.

I wonder what Governor Schwarzenegger would think?

Via Care2 and Los Angeles Times