Did you know that you can save water by eating more vegetables? This is not a trick to get the kids to eat more greens, assures Harry the Hominid, Maropeng’s spokeshominid. “It’s all part of making the world a better place for everyone to live in. Water is scarce. A lot of the things we do, and what we eat and play with every day uses up many litres of water, even if we don’t realise it.”
When we add up all that water that we use each day, we get what is called a person’s water footprint. For example, it takes 2 400 litres of water to make a 100g bar of chocolate, and 16 000 litres of water just to produce a kilogram of beef. On the other hand, it only takes 180 litres to produce a kilogram of tomatoes, and 100 litres of water per kilogram of potatoes.
“So if we eat more vegetables, we use less water!”
To celebrate Water Week this September, Harry suggests these water-saving tips:
- Change your eating habits. Eat less meat and more vegetables.
- Take shorter showers
- Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth
- Fully load the dishwasher
- Fix dripping taps and toilets
- Collect rain water and grey water (dirty bath- and dishwater) and use that instead to irrigate the garden
“If we each try to save water, there’ll be more water to go around and no one will be left thirsty. Let’s work together to keep our water footprint as small as possible,” says Harry.
Ends
Compiled on behalf of Maropeng by Cathy Findley Public Relations