Facts & Figures
- Freshwater is a diminishing limited resource and though we cannot increase the Earth’s supply of water, we can manage what supplies we have more effectively
- A recent survey found that 85% of real estate professionals believe that water efficiency will be a very important aspect of green building in2013, compared to 69 percent saying that it was in 2008
- The US Green Building Council’s LEED green building certification program now requires a 20% reduction in water use a prerequisite for project certification under all rating system
- Water is emerging as the next big environmental concern for two reasons: one is the relative scarcity of freshwater resources around the world. The second reason is that the process of capturing, storing, transporting, distributing, and treating water is a large net consumer of electrical power.
- Graywater tends to be reliably present in most commercial environment. Why purchase more potable water when there is another supply that you’ve already paid for?
- The amount of water available today is the same amount of water that was available 100 years ago.
- In less than 20 years, 1.8 billion people will be living in areas with water scarcity.
- Worldwide water consumption is rising at double the rate of population growth.
- Even without drought areas in at least 36 states in the U.S. are expected to have water shortages by 2013.
- Cooling and process water often account for 80-90% of industrial water use. Harvested rainwater can be used for cooling in all industries and for process water in many industries.
- Approximately 34%of all water use in the United States is for irrigation.