The importance of water resource

According to many, the availability of water resources is the most serious problem at a global level. Today over 4 billion people live in scarce water conditions for at least one month a year, and just under 2 billion are forced to contend with drought six months a year. And where water is available, often it is not usable because it is polluted or wasted.

Italy suffers from at least 20 years of infrastructural delays: old networks, significant water leaks, a lack of purifiers or those which are not up to standards and poor investments. The Censis (Italian Centre for Social Investment Studies) has estimated average losses of 32% of the country’s water supply, with peaks that reach nearly 50%. This is a huge amount of wasted drinking water.

But this does not have to be an alibi for citizens; in fact, everybody can contribute with small daily behaviours that reduce waste. Beyond the usual behaviours that children are taught and then unfortunately forget while growing up, such as turning off the water while brushing your teeth or taking showers instead of baths, there are a number of other, very simple actions that can help preserve our planet. Without listing them one by one – you can find dozens of sites which explain the various behaviours that help avoid water waste – virtual water savings deserves special attention.
Everything we eat or wear, or simply that we use daily, needs water – sometimes a lot of it – before entering our homes: a portion of beef weighing 300 grams needs more than 4,500 litres of water to become a “steak” on our table, a 300 gram pork chop needs 1,400 litres, half a kilogram of pasta needs 780 litres and 100 grams of tomato need 13 litres. And not only food: a shirt needs 2,700 litres of water and jeans need 8,000. And so on.

Each one of us can save resources, sustainably handle waste and reduce energy consumption without wasting water by using the right products, and recovering and recycling all those materials that can safely be reused.