yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

How to Conserve Water | National Geographic


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

Today, I'm in Colorado, a state that can see more snow than Alaska. Standing here in the banks of this frozen reservoir, it's easy to understand why water seems like a limitless resource. But the fact is, in the United States, we could face a national water shortage in a little more than 50 years.

Colorado needs to save every drop it gets, and Colorado College, which has been ranked first for water conservation among 280 colleges and universities, is leading the way. Our water largely comes from the other side of the continental divide. We're bringing it through tunnels that are miles long through the mountains into reservoirs and then either into rivers or pipelines. That's something that a lot of our students have never actually thought about before. So, how are you managing water here?

We've reduced water usage by 38 percent, which is a pretty big drop. I think it's the biggest in the country, actually. There are multiple different ways: the fixtures, low flow shower heads, and in our residence halls, and toilets. Things that aren't shiny, flashy, or exciting, but you know, as we add all of those together, they start to have a really big impact. And then just efficiencies. You know, there's a lot of technical projects that we've done. One of the projects that saved a lot of water is the cooling system for our central heating plant. We closed the loop on that, and that saved us about three million gallons of water a year.

There are many lessons we can learn from Colorado College. I'm here in the college's eco-home with a family of students who are learning more about being water wise. Talk to me a little bit about Synergy, your relationship to water here. At Synergy, we do use gray water when we shower. We have like a five-gallon bucket below us that we kind of just let fill up while we're showering, and then we use that to flush the toilet. So, about half of our indoor water use is spent in bathrooms, with showers as the major drain.

On average, American families use more than 300 gallons of water every day. [Laughter] And many of us still rinse our dirty dishes under a running faucet before loading them into the dishwasher. This is a huge waste of water because you actually need the dishes to be dirty, as the enzymes and the detergent latch onto food particles to work effectively. It's these actions that could help avert America's looming water crisis, giving the next generation a better chance of never having to see a water shortage.

More Articles

View All
Trade and tariffs | APⓇ Microeconomics | Khan Academy
In this video, we’re going to think about how trade affects the total economic surplus in a market, and we’re also going to think about tariffs, which are a per-unit charge that a government will often put on some type of good that is being imported. Usua…
Puppies and Scientists Team Up Against Zika and Other Diseases | Expedition Raw
Oh yeah, the puppies are absolutely critical to the research. Okay, you hi puppy! We are collecting blood-sucking creatures like fleas and mosquitoes because they transmit disease to humans, like the D virus, Zika virus, Bubonic plague, or Bonella. So, o…
Whoopi Golderg Wants Superheroes With Big Butts | StarTalk
Whoopi Goldberg: “Did you know she was a card-carrying geek? Well, let’s check some of that out. Here we go! I’m a woman of a certain age who’s always grown up with Superman and Batman and Supergirl and all, and all of the DC and Marvel Universes. There’…
Crafting a Hunting Tool | Live Free or Die
I’m gonna make this home for the night, and I’m gonna do a little bit of fire straightening. So I’m just warming the dart over the coals on this fire, and then try to kind of straighten it. Four days into his 80-mile journey, desert Nomad Tobias is suffe…
Canada's Wild Rivers - 360 | Into Water
Freshwater ecosystems are a lifeline to our very existence. They support immense biodiversity, provide clean drinking water, and are powerful places where we can connect to both nature and ourselves. I’m Dalal Hannah, I’m a freshwater ecologist and Natio…
Sometimes, the Bar Bites Back | Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks
Perdy getting across the bar every day is the most difficult part of your day. They’ll be ready to duck. Oh, [Music] Lord! We just took 15 feet of whitewater right over top of her. You can unhook her, huh? You can unhook her feet. Yeah, how about Shaq? …