Like when ppl say don’t wash your yard or car with a hose. Isn’t the extra water or for that matter all water either seeping underground and adding to groundwater table or being evaporated into nature to be recycled? In both cases the water will be filtered enough to be potable….
In: Physics
Water waste is a very local issue. In some areas you could pretty much use as much as you want with little long-term impact. Chicago draws water from miles out in Lake Michigan and it’s clean enough out there that it doesn’t take too much processing to make it potable. Lake Michigan isn’t going to be running dry anytime soon no matter how much you water a lawn in Chicago. If you draw your water from a private well in an area with a sparse population, a healthy aquifer, and good rainfall, all you need to worry about is drawing the aquifer down below your well pump (growing up in WV, I’ve had the well run dry mid-shower and that’s no fun). If however you live in a heavily populated metropolis in a desert region surrounded by agriculture supported with artificial irrigation, such as much of the western US, they have pumped so much water out of the ground that the ground level is literally falling (like sleeping in a leaking waterbed) and they have to keep drilling the wells deeper and deeper. And they have stolen so much water from the Colorado River that it doesn’t reach the ocean anymore. No matter where you are though, it takes energy to collect, purify, and distribute that water. Saving that energy is a good reason in itself.
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