Water

Water is something that is very similar to energy in terms of our consumption. Almost every building in the US has running water and we make sure we use as much of it as we can. Water is not very expensive for humans to use, so we do so without really even thinking about it. Whether it be for drinking, showering, brushing teeth, or watering your lawn, all people use water. I am guilty of overusing water for sure. I usually take at least two showers a day, not sure why, but it has become a habit. I try to drink a few liters of water a day to stay hydrated and healthy for when I ride my bicycles. I do laundry, one to two times a week, and I, definitely leave the faucet running whenever I brush my teeth. Changing some of these simple habits in the slightest way could change my whole footprint in terms of water consumption.

For the rest of this week, I will be in Atlanta, so I will have to change these habits while in an unfamiliar setting, but I don't think it will be too bad. My main habits I need to change are, showering, doing laundry, and turning off the faucet when brushing my teeth. I can learn to take faster showers, and cut my showering to once a day. I can stop doing laundry as often, and wait to do it when I am literally out of clean clothes to wear, and I can simply turn off the faucet when I am brushing my teeth. I will continue to drink the same amount of water because my lifestyle and exercise plan requires me to stay hydrated. These things may be hard for me to change at first because I usually do them without really thinking about it. Maybe once I start to change these things, I will keep them around as new habits for the future to help decrease my H2O footprint.

Here is a link to some statistics on water use in the US over the past few years:
http://water.usgs.gov/watuse/