President Biden's new bipartisan infrastructure law to help protect water supplies in 12 states and Puerto Rico is a positive step, but does not do nearly enough to address the massive water crisis facing our nation.

While governments and businesses converge on New York City this month for Climate Week, extreme weather, wildfires, food supplies and climate change will be on top of the global agenda. But, the planet is also showing clear signs that our water consumption is unsustainable. This would seem to be the biggest issue we need to tackle more than anything. Mainly the fact that most people don't realize how much water they waste going about their normal day.

According to the United Nations, almost half of the world's population will have be faced with water scarcity by 2025. In addition to increasing thirst in the world, the lack of water resources will have serious economic implications. UNICEF warns that:

  • Four billion people — almost two thirds of the world's population — experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year.
  • Over two billion people live in countries where water supply is inadequate.
  • Half of the world's population could be living in areas facing water scarcity by as early as 2025.
  • Some 700 million people could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030.
  • By 2040, roughly 1 in 4 children worldwide will be living in areas of extremely high water stress.

​The Department of the Interior's $36.1 million infrastructure package is aimed to "advance quantifiable and sustained water savings by protecting watersheds impacted by wildland fire, restoring aquatic habitats and stream beds, and advancing other environmental restoration projects to mitigate drought-related impacts."

Even with the bill mentioning repairing aging water delivery systems, securing dams, completing rural water projects and protecting aquatic ecosystems, none of this helps businesses and residents save water, in a sustainable way, bringing solutions with a great environmental impact that are focused on the management of our water resources in homes and commercial buildings.

In Brazil, the company AB Inbev is using a system that is saving 50% more water in buildings that do not have modern, smart technology already installed. And with newer buildings that do have smart technologies and appliances, similar to the WaterSense certified equipment you can buy in America, the company is still saving an average of 18% more water using the system. AB Inbev owns Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois, and Becks, among others. The Water Management Project AB Inbev uses a system involving the implementation of products, services and technologies, which seek more efficiency in generating water savings.

The EPA's WaterSense labeling of products in the U.S. helps save a small amount of water and protect the environment. According to a 2014 Government Accountability Report:

  • The average family can waste 180 gallons per week, or 9,400 gallons of water annually, from household leaks. That's equivalent to the amount of water needed to wash more than 300 loads of laundry.
  • Household leaks can waste approximately nearly 900 billion gallons of water annually nationwide. That's equal to the annual household water use of nearly 11 million homes.
  • Running the dishwasher only when it's full can eliminate one load of dishes per week and save the average family nearly 320 gallons of water annually.
  • Turning off the tap while brushing your teeth can save eight gallons of water per day and, while shaving, can save 10 gallons of water per shave. Assuming you brush your teeth twice daily and shave five times per week, you could save nearly 5,700 gallons per year.
  • Letting your faucet run for five minutes while washing dishes can waste 10 gallons of water and uses enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 18 hours.
  • Outdoor water use accounts for more than 30% of total household water use, on average, but can be as much as 60% of total household water use in arid regions.
  • If the average sized lawn is watered for 20 minutes every day for seven days, it's like running the shower constantly for four days or taking more than 800 showers. That's equivalent to the amount of water needed for the average family to take 1 year's worth of showers.
  • As much as 50% of the water we use outdoors is lost due to wind, evaporation, and runoff caused by inefficient irrigation methods and systems. A household with an automatic landscape irrigation system that isn't properly maintained and operated can waste up to 25,000 gallons of water annually.

​In 2021, the U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act, but this bill also doesn't accomplish the needed water savings we need to avoid a major scarcity emergency.

The bill helps to keep water safe and clean, but what happens when the water runs out?

While the bill helps households that cannot connect to municipal water systems in an economic or technically feasible way, by funding a grant program to install environmentally-sound decentralized wastewater systems, the individual U.S. citizen or business owner unconsciously wastes an enormous amount of water doing typical activities like showering, washing dishes, doing laundry, watering grass and flushing toilets.

Water is such a precious resource, and wasting it because of leaky pipes and faulty infrastructure is unacceptable.

The bottom line though is even by replacing pipes, septic systems, installing smart technologies and building wastewater plants, the general public must be educated about their unconscious use of water. We have new ways to save more water so that we can avert the most important planetary disaster facing us.

As the UN hosts the General Assembly alongside Climate Week this month, world leaders must work with CEOs to seriously address this pending catastrophe. When the water stops flowing, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Both time and water are running out.

Anderson Silva and Cesar Coutinho are Partners at Let's Save Water

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