Water is one of the main resources used in common households. It can be used for almost everything. It is used for washing dishes, washing clothes, showering, bathing, and brushing our teeth. Sometimes we take water for granted and leave it running longer than it should, but we need to stop wasting water. The average amount of water used during a shower is 2.5 gallons per minute. If you take a twenty minute shower, you then are using up 50 gallons of water. If you take baths, an average bath tub fills up with 36 gallons of water. We need to stop using up this much water because it is better for the environment and for our cities. We can reduce the wasting of water by taking shorter showers or even turning the water the water off when we are brushing our teeth and washing our hands. Reducing the amount of wasted water can improve our economy, save money, and all around improve the our effect on Earth.
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/qa-home-percapita.html

It is shocking and disappointing to consider how much water we waste in a single minute of showering. However, I am happy to say that I have greatly reduced the amount of water I waste since the beginning of the school year. Before the last few months, I was frequently yelled at by my parents for taking ridiculously long showers (along the lines of 30 to 45 minutes every night). My decision to join the cross country team drastically changed that. On average, I take about four minute showers every morning. When about fifty girls have seven showers to use every morning, short showers are a necessity. Because of the habits I developed showering at school, my showers at home on the weekends are always under ten minutes as well. I am glad that myself and the rest of the cross country team are able to reduce the amount of wasted water from our school.

I completely agree with the information you have provided. I personally notice that my shower times are much longer than what they should be. I also like to leave the water running in the sink as I brush my teeth. In total, I do waste much more water then I should be. When calculating my carbon footprint that was an area in which I released a lot of CO₂ emissions. Water is in fact used daily in large amounts throughout the United States’ households. There should be some sort of a push made to help reduce the amount of water that is wasted. Especially for people like me, by reducing shower times and stopping the water from running when we aren’t using it are great ways to start reducing the amount of energy used.

I agree with Fernanda and Grace. Especially when it is on a night that I have practice, I tend to take 45 minute showers. This is definitely longer than it should be. After calculating, I realized that my shower time also contributed a lot to my carbon emissions. Recently, I have been trying to turn off the water when I don't need it. I have also been turning off the faucet when I am brushing my teeth and making the choice to turn off the water when I am scrubbing my hands. I will try some other ways to reduce the amount of water wasted in my household and I encourage many to do the same. Another thing that I may start to do is hand-wash my clothes in a basin/bucket of water. This is something that is not very common now, but my parents and grandparents think it is a better way to wash clothes.

I agree with everything that has been said under this topic. With the lack of rain fall last winter, California is being deeply effected by a drought right now. Yes, California has been in a drought before, but the one happening right now has reached a new level of dry. An article in the San Jose Mercury news http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_2 … ate-change has stated that green house gases, caused by global warming could be one of the causes to this dreadful drought. Even with California getting more and more dry, people aren't conserving water like they should be. Knowing that 2.5 gallons of water is being used every minute while showering is mind bottling. If people really knew how much water they were really using,California wouldn't be in such a horrible drought.

This is completely true, nowadays people have begun to take accessibility to water for granted. For example I know somebody who will leave water running the whole time the are brushing there teeth, going in and out of rooms, or getting water. They completely dismiss that its raining less frequently and they really need to be more conservative. Since they have never had to go somewhere very far just to get a as simple a resource as water, they feel as though it will never run out. We as a society really need to cut back before it costs.
   When i was younger even I liked taking 30 minute showers. However now I usually stop the water while washing my hair and when ever it's not needed. I think showering habits really add to a persons waste of water. If you take a eight minute shower every day you use about 20 or more gallons showering per day. It seems like so much water and most people take even longer showers or even multiple showers a day. Thinking of all the things we do every day that revolve around water we really could help and use less water.