OK, hang on, what’s a water calculator? This fun tool basically tells you how and where you’re using water and gives you handy tips on how to save it. Your water footprint is the water you use every day. It’s the water that’s used to grow your food, produce the energy you use, make your clothes and books and the water we use directly such as flushing the toilet!
It takes 35 litres of water to make 1 cup of tea!
Right, but why do we need to save water? We live in Ireland, it’s always raining here?! It’s true, it does rain a lot however there’s a finite supply of fresh water; only 3% of the worlds water is fresh. In Ireland we’re not great at capturing the water that falls from the sky and even when we do it has to go through lots of processes and takes quite a long time before it can be used. In 2018 we had really bad storms followed by the worst drought Ireland had seen in 70 years showing that there’s a limited supply of potable water. It’s hard to focus on how precious water is when a drought passes but we must try to make a change. Just because rainfall can increase the environmental, time and financial cost does not decrease. The demand for fresh water is increasing every year so we must act now to conserve water. Irish people directly use 133 litres of water every day - toilet flushing, showering and bathing, teeth brushing, washing dishes, eating and watering the garden.
Check out our water calculator for some useful tips and quick facts and see how much water you can save!
785 million people lack access to clean drinking water. 1 in 4 healthcare facilities lack basic water services.
