Hydroholics is a collective of men and women who share their support, strength, and knowledge so that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from over-consumption. The only requirement for membership is a desire to control your consumption and conserve water. Our primary purpose is facilitate responsible water use and help hydroholics achieve sustainable moistness, without the waste.
If you've grown accustomed to extended showers or have memory lapses of how much water you've used, you may be a hydroholic. Only you can decide whether or not you are. We urge you to place yourself in one of 5 stages designed to combat hydroholism.
The success of the Hydroholic program seems largely correlated to non-abusers reaching out to help friends and family. The Hydroholic in part revolves around the telling and re-telling of experiences and success stories, tips for sustainable consumption. Members describe their individual processes, and advise others when they can. Hydrholics invites all newcomers to join the informal Fellowship. Don't be embarassed, we're in this together.
We're not telling you to use as little as possible. Go ahead, treat yourself when the time calls! Our modern conveniences are there for that exact reason. But always remember, following just a few of these steps can help cure America's hydroholism.
Circle of Blue (a non-profit affiliate of the Pacific Institute) is the international network of leading journalists, scientists and communications designers that reports and presents the information necessary to respond to the global freshwater crisis. Thus, it applies the best tools of the 21st century to transcend traditional bounds and raise awareness around water. We need to face the fact that there is an increased competition for scarce water. The website provides a news page, which serves as the go-to source for comprehensive, compelling and thought-provoking freshwater coverage.
Lanz, Klaus. Who Owns The Water? Lars Mueller Publishers, 2006
This book describes the water crisis and the importance of clean, fresh water. It points out the risks of unlimited privatization of water, and records how dependence on water is exploited. Committed picture sequences and detailed texts explain how water can belong to no one, but has to be treated responsibly and held in appropriate esteem by the whole of mankind.
Gertner, Jon. The Future is Drying Up, New York Times Magazine, October 21, 2007.
This article addresses the water crisis facing the American West. It begins with a general description of the current situation and future concerns. For example, Las Vegas’s water demands are depleting the reserved at Lake Mead to a point where the intake pipes are almost above the waterline. Additionally, issues of water rights and the use of the water from the Colorado River are discussed. The article then goes on to discuss possible solutions, including one being pursued by Aurora, CO in which it will take treated wastewater that is dumped into the South Platte River and send it through many treatment processes until it meats cleanliness standards and use it again as clean water.
Smith, Cynthia E. Design for the Other 90%. Editions Assouline, 2007.
Compiled as part of an exhibit on design solutions to ease life for those far from modern conveniences. Many solutions deal with the cleansing of water and/or ease of transport.
This site has tips on what to change around the house to maximize water use and how to be more green. It also has a well organized list of links on where to buy water saving appliances, which dishwashers etc. use the least amount of water.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Water Sense
Identifies products and practices that are water efficient.
This is a campaign started by Brita and Nalgene that also includes Crystal Light and other beverage mix companies to encourage people to stop buying plastic bottles and instead drink filtered tap out of reusable containers.
Facts about the water industry and information on if these industries promote jobs in towns where they are located. Truth is that water bottle companies provide a few number of low paying and dangerous jobs when they move into an area and are not beneficial for the community.
Brita's anti-bottled water campaign
Two disturbing images of a man and a woman with black oil spilling out of their mouths. Very powerful and effective.
Think Outside the Bottle, consisting of the collective effort of major national organizations, cities, prominent people, communities of faith, student groups, and concerned consumers across North America, encourages consumers to choose tap over bottled water. The website provides several facts about the advantages of tap over bottled water. (For example: Up to 40% of bottled water comes from the same source as tap water, but is sold back to consumers at hundreds of times the cost. Producing bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water required more than 17 million barrels of oil last year – enough fuel for more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year - and generated more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.) To bottle, transport, dispose of, and even to recycle bottled water containers requires a massive amount of energy. The United Nations warns that by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population – more than five billion people– will lack access to water. One can help reverse this trend by taking the “pledge” online, which sends the message that “water is a human right, not a commodity.” They have organized many campaign actions to expose the realities of the bottled water industry and challenge corporate control of water (i.e. a webinar about alternatives, documentary viewings etc.)
Cumming, Oliver. Tackling the silent killer: The case for sanitation. WaterAid. July 2008.
The Government has failed to address the global sanitation crisis. Inadequate sanitation may be the biggest killer of children under the age of five. (political neglect both at an int’l and nat’l level, lack of investment...) This article asserts that improved sanitation could bring the single greatest reduction in these child deaths.
Our response to a global water crisis. Water 1st International.
Water 1st oversees the implementation of sustainable water, sanitation and health projects, essential for the health and dignity of people who live below the poverty line, and cannot afford to build their own water supply and sanitation systems. By providing people with safe water systems and hygiene education, Water 1st believes they can begin the process towards ending the cycle of poverty and death. There are many ways to get involved such as making a donation, participating in fundraisers in form of silent auctions, dinner receptions (raising money for community water projects in India, Bangladesh, Honduras, and Ethiopia etc.) or joining the Water 1st community. This organization has supported the construction of 92 water systems, benefiting 7,314 people just in Dhaka city alone.
WaterAid works in 17 countries providing water, sanitation and hygiene education to some of the world's poorest people. This organization prioritizes safe water, effective sanitation, and hygiene promotion. There is a “Learn zone” on its website which I find very fascinating: video games, videos, country information sheets, teaching packs etc. WaterAid relies on individuals, corporations and charitable trusts to help us to make a difference to the world's poorest people. It also fully welcomes the opportunities the UN's International Year of Sanitation (2008) raises for highlighting the urgent need for action to reduce the number of poor people living without this vital basic service.
WaterPartners International is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization committed to providing safe drinking water and sanitation to people in developing countries. It does not build water systems for people though, but with people. The adoption of good hygiene practices (they hold motivation seminars and training sessions) and access to sanitation (i.e. toilet) facilities are critical in achieving sustainable improvements in community health. This NGO has transformed more than 200 communities in eight countries, including Bangladesh, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Guatemala, India, Kenya, and the Philippines. The website also provides several news articles and resources, as well as provides donating options and water facts. World Water Week was held in Stockholm in August where 2,500 water experts were gathered to craft solutions to these various problems (how to deal with global climate change, poor sanitation, irrigation-fed agriculture…)
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Like most big cities, our nation's capital has lost most of its natural groundcover to buildings, sidewalks, streets and other hard surfaces. Without the buffering, filtering, and overall ability to soak up water that natural groundcover provides, heavy rains send dirty runoff sluicing into the Anacostia and Potomac rivers, and eventually into the Chesapeake Bay.
