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Calculate Your Water Footprint

Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA

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By Jasmin Malik Chua
Jersey City, NJ, USA | Sun Mar 23 17:21:00 EDT 2008

You may have come to terms with your carbon footprint, but how much do you know about your water footprint? Water is rapidly becoming a hot-button issue: With water use increasing six-fold in the past century-more than twice the rate of Earth's population growth-our demand for water is fast outstripping what the planet can replenish.

And, as pollution increases in many areas, the quantity of drinkable water continues to dwindle. Yet the average American guzzles about 100 gallons of water daily, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, far greater than the 50 to 60 gallons the French and Germans use each day. In fact, one flush of a toilet in the developed world, says the United Nations (PDF), uses as much water as the average person in the developing world allocates for an entire day's cooking, washing, cleaning, and drinking.To discover your personal water quotient, tally up your responses to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's quiz, which includes such questions as how long you dawdle in the shower, as well as how soon you fix leaky pipes and garden hoses.

Learn more about conserving water at home, whether it's by installing faucet aerators, using a low-flow showerhead, or building a rain barrel, by rifling through our archives. ::Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Difficulty level: Easy

 
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