Water, water, everywhere?

Water.
We all need it, we all use it, though many of us take it for granted.
An upcoming episode of Treading Lightly - Minimizing Your Environmental Footprint, heard on the CKUA radio network (ckua.com and across Alberta on FM and AM), briefly touches on water use in the kitchen and some quick tips on conserving this precious resource.
For most of us, especially those of us in large urban centers, we turn on a tap and out comes a steady stream of cold, refreshing and safe drinking water - for use in so many ways in addition to drinking.  Afterwards, what we don't use gets treated (or not...) and directed back into the water supply for the next town downstream.  So essentially, the water is recycled, so why does it matter if we let the tap run while we brush our teeth or wash those vegetables?  There are other reasons to consider being mindful of letting the tap run unnecessarily than just running out of water: Energy.
There are energy costs associated with getting that water to your tap that many of us don't think of.  Pumping stations, filtration and sediment removal, chlorination and chemical treating, and the rigorous testing that ensures that our water is safe.  In addition, when that water goes down the drain, there are energy costs associated with our waste water as well.  Even if the water is clean going down the drain, it still has to be processed at the waste water treatment facility.  This includes our bathing water, while I wouldn't recommend drinking it, for the average person taking a shower, that water would be suitable for a wide variety of applications other than being treated at the local waste treatment plant.
In addition, in many parts of the developed world water supplies are getting lower while populations are growing.  The less we use now, regardless of how we have to treat it, the more that there will be later.
So next time you leave that tap running, think of where it comes from and where it goes to before it safe for the next person (or being) that will use it.  (The fish appreciate clean water too!)
Thanks, and until next time, tread lightly!