Green Corner: The Carbon Footprint of Water

There’s plenty of water in Michigan, right? Yes, but the climate cost of household water use is high, and we need to do all we can to conserve it. It takes energy/power to pre-treat water, pump it to your home, and then treat your wastewater. That power most often comes from dirty fossil fuels, sending tons of greenhouse gasses (GHG) into the atmosphere. Consider this:

• More than 13% of electricity used in the US is for water treatment. 
• More than 25% of household water is typically wasted.
• Household water use produces 5% of the US’s annual CO₂ emissions. 

Changing to a mindset of conservation is an adjustment we all can make at macro and micro levels in order to limit climate change. For ideas about how to conserve water, click here.

Have an action idea? Send it to greencorner@uuaa.org!