The Concept of Virtual Water: Understanding Our Real Water Use

摘要

Oover the past decade as the global challenges of water scarcity have become more visible and better understood, we've all begun to learn more about our water efficiency, how much we consume, and how we can become better at conserving this precious resource. With this better understanding-and concerted efforts to improve efficiency-certain regions of the country have made significant advances in water conservation. Many water districts have shown marked progress in recent years; in particular, many of the arid western cities such as Denver, Colo., Albuquerque, N.M., and Las Vegas, Nev., for example, have cut daily per capita consumption by as much as half. The hope is we are all getting better at monitoring the amount of water we consume for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and the numerous other things we use water for in our everyday lives.