Page 4 - Water Sustainability
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UNIT 1 Why WATer MATTers
GROW YOUR KNOWLEDGE
A personal water footprint is the total amount of water a person
uses. Read the questions below. Then, with your teacher’s permission,
access the watercalculator.org website. Use the tool to calculate
your own water footprint as you answer the questions below. The information you need
may display with the prompts, or in your water footprint report. While using the water
footprint calculator, respond to the prompts as accurately as possible.
1. What is your water footprint?
2. Is your water footprint greater than or less than the U.S. average?
3. List at least four things that directly impact the amount of water you use every day.
4. What are the two largest contributors to your water footprint?
5. What is one thing you can do to reduce your water footprint?
Essential Concept
Water is central to sustainability.
1.1 Our Relationship with Water
WATER SUSTAINABILITY It is impossible to separate water sustainability from a
Equitable use and manage- healthy natural environment, a successful economy, or human
ment of water that does equity and well-being. Successful water sustainability means
not impair its availability or
quality for present and future that we must always consider the relationship of water to
generations or ecosystems. humans and to nature.
It is relatively easy to see obvious uses of water such as drink-
ing, bathing, and cleaning, but there are also many ways in
EMBODIED OR which water use is hidden from view. Embodied water, which
VIRTUAL WATER is also called virtual water, is the amount of fresh water used
The amount of fresh water
used to produce a product to produce a product or service. You might know how much
or service. water you drink each day, but do you know how much water is
used to produce the food you eat? How about water to gener-
ate electricity or to manufacture the clothes you wear?
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