D o you like water? No you prefer soda? Well would you shower in Coke? Wash your dishes in Sprite? Didn’t think so. Of course you like water! It’s the world’s most precious resource. Without it we wouldn’t survive very long. So it’s a good thing that water makes up more than 70% of the planet because that means there’s plenty of water to go round right?

Well actually most of that water (96% to be precise) is in the oceans where it’s not really useable. Freshwater which is drinkable water makes up only 2.5% of the world’s water. So you can see why a lot of governments and environmentalists around the world are getting worried about the water situation.

The good news is that there are lots of ways to make the most of the water we use so that it doesn’t go to waste.

Put away that hosepipe!

The English are very proud of their gardens. Friendly chats with the neighbors across the fence are a great opportunity to see whose garden looks better. They love to tend to their roses and nothing makes them happier than when their lawn is nice and green.

So you can imagine the horror of English gardeners when in the summer of 2012 they were told of a newly imposed ‘Hosepipe Ban.’ A hosepipe ban is when people are banned by their water company from using garden hoses to water their gardens fill swimming and paddling pools wash cars and boats. Even sprinklers are forbidden.

I know what you’re thinking. Why on earth would people be banned from using garden hoses in England? Doesn’t it rain there all the time?

Yes it does rain there a lot — except when it doesn’t. The summer of 2012 was a very hot and dry summer causing water levels across the country to drop. The government declared there was a drought and got the water companies to impose the dreaded hosepipe ban with offenders being fined £1 000.

The point of a hosepipe ban is not only to stop people from watering their garden but also to encourage them to reduce the amount of water they use on non-essential things. Windows aren’t clean? Better wash them only once the drought is over. It’s meant to make people more aware of the drought in a country where they probably don’t feel the lack of water that much.

But how do the water companies know who’s using their garden hoses? Well technically they could send helicopters or drones into the air to see whose lawn is bright green. They could also send inspectors to check people’s gardens. But in practice water companies usually rely on neighbors to report on each other. Nice huh? (Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr. Issue 684)