No hose pipes for 6 weeks
This cartoon is taken from an article published in 2012 [1] in the Daily Mail newspaper, informing people that twenty million homes were to have an order of a hosepipe ban. Water companies in the South and East of England, where rainfall was low for nearly two years, announced restrictions affecting one in three homes in the UK.
Today we have such a restriction started in Ireland for the next six weeks, in order to conserve water.
Water is the most precious commodity in the world, but it is not the most valued. We are wasting water. All of us, everywhere on the planet. In Ireland we might live in a wet climate, but our management of this invaluable resource needs to be improved – urgently – because too much of it runs down the drain. Every household needs to transform its water use for the sake of our children.
According to reports on gathered data Irish people use on average 120-130 litres of water per person per day. This is lower than the EU average, but still higher than the level of 100 litres per person per day that we would like to see because our resources are struggling to meet demand.
The amount of water you use depends on your family circumstances, the kind of home you live in and even what you do for a living. But everyone can play a big role in reducing usage and this has huge benefits.
[1] https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2113617/Hosepipe-ban-homes-affected.html
[2] United States 1960 postal stamp advocating water conservation.