Tax dollars saved by not expanding existing facilities could be used to improve water treatment techniques. Only four of the 100 gallons of water used by the average person each day are actually necessary. People need to acquire good water use habits and then spread the word to friends and neighbors. Using low flow faucets and shower heads, reduced flow toilet flushing equipment, and water saving appliances such as dish and clothes washers. Use slow watering techniques such as trickle irrigation or a soaker hose.
Fresh water is used faster than groundwater is recharged.
The lands water flows across or under on its way to a stream, river or lake. The landscape is made up of many interconnected basins, or watersheds. On its way, water travels over the surface and across farm fields, forest land, suburban lawns and city streets or its seeps into the soil and travels as groundwater. Large watersheds like the ones for the Mississippi River, Columbia River and Chesapeake Bay are made up of many smaller watersheds across several states. Not at all.