What You Can Do to Protect Your Drinking Water

It's National Drinking Water Week, and it's worth pausing for just a moment to show a little appreciation for the clean water you do have and to consider what more you can do to keep it that way.

The vast majority of water on earth is sloshing around in the salty seas. A very small portion is available for human purposes. In fact, just 2-3% of the earth's water is fresh water and about two thirds of that is tied up in glaciers and the polar ice caps.

The small proportion that's left is found in ground water (0.68%), surface water (0.011%) or in the atmosphere (0.04%). And that surface water? Think freshwater lakes - like Lake Baikal in Russia and the Great Lakes in the U.S. They account for a lot of it. So frankly, when we talk about available fresh water, it's important to realize there is a limit. And fresh clean drinking water? That's even more of a rare commodity that you might imagine.

So do be grateful for what you have.



Because it is an essential yet finite resource, maintaining an adequate supply of clean drinking water is certainly something to consider on this the occasion of National Water Week. Not wasting what we do have is part of what we need to do. Protecting the quality of that finite supply is perhaps even more important.

Just check out the amount of small print in the above image from a U.S. EPA poster on safe drinking water. (You can find the full readable version - and even order a copy of your own - here.) That's a lot of small print, a lot of things to consider, but here are just a few ideas to get you started:

Avoid the use of chemicals in the garden and in the home whenever possible. Whether they find their way into the groundwater, a nearby stream or river or are flushed into the public sewer system, chemicals are not what you want to have finding their way into the water supply. And it's all connected. See: Non-toxic Home Cleaning Alternatives

Consider the food you eat and the impact your choices have on water quality. Not only is agriculture by far the largest user of freshwater, agricultural waste and runoff is a major source of water contamination. Can you switch to more organic produce? Eat grass fed, or at least pasture raised, beef? Lobby for sustainable agriculture in your watershed?

Dispose of old, expire or unneeded medicines properly. Prescription drugs in the water supply is another weird and wonderful thing to be aware of. Bottom line: never, ever, ever dispose of medicine down the toilet. Period. The Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA) has a safe medicine disposal program - find out what you can do with medicines at www.safemedicinedisposal.org. See also: Drugs in Your Drinking Water?

These are just a few ways you can help to keep our limited supply of drinking water clean and safe. Want to know more about protecting the drinking water supply? Visit the EPA website for more information - and figure out one thing you can take action on this week.