Two Surprising Ways You Could Be Wasting Water

water waste

There are over a billion people worldwide that don’t have access to adequate water. Many of us are already taking steps to save water, like taking shorter showers and turning off the faucet when we brush our teeth. But there are two ways that you may be contributing to wasting water that may surprise you.

Surprising water wasters

Water wasters
The process of keeping data centers cool to store your selfies in the cloud consumes a lot of water.

There are distinct steps to save water just by using less water and getting energy efficient appliances. However, water is a component in almost every aspect of life. That means that everything we do can have an impact on the amount of water that is used.

Data storage

We think of IT as a way to make our lives more efficient and productive. We need less to make more. With every online activity, we are creating and storing data. The more we operate on the world wide web, the more storage we need to hold all the data we are creating and sharing. Data storage facilities use a tremendous amount of water to keep their data center cool. The more data we have, the more energy the servers need to store the data, and the more water is required to keep them cool and operating correctly. We’re not saying that you need to stop sending all your selfies to the cloud, but you should put pressure on data storage facilities to adopt sustainable practices and minimize their water consumption.

Buying new clothes

Surprising water wasters
The clothing industry, especially the dying process, consumes thousands of gallons of water.

Buying anything new is going to wastewater. Sourcing new materials is a wasteful process, which is why we encourage reusing and repurposing old materials to make new things. Buying new clothes is something that we’re all going to do from time to time. Be conscious of the clothes that you buy. Every step of the process to make new clothes waste water, especially the dying process. Many environmentally conscious clothing companies are taking steps to minimize water waste by using water-free dyes and even other organic and natural materials to dye clothes.

It’s important to be a conscientious consumer. Be mindful of the products you buy, and support companies that practice sustainable solutions to their production.

Sunrise Sanitation provides waste management services to your home, business, and job-site in Maryland and West Virginia.

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