Water affects more people in the world than any other environmental problem today, even when they don’t realize it. Water and sewage are hidden beneath the surface of many political issues. Agricultural irrigation being a major use of water, food supply is affected, depending on where you are. Contamination of water riles people very quickly. For instance, it is the primary fear of those protesting gas fracking. And that’s just a start on water-related problems.
Water and sewage fundamentally affect quality of life in so many ways that as Andrew Warrington points out, dealing with water as total systems issues is beyond one company’s marketing program. Even smart water may be stop-gap. More waste occurs after the meters, if they exist. Sometimes they don’t. A report released today by the National Institute of Building Sciences expands on Warrington’s article and digs into user-related waste.
The Compression Institute regards water as an ideal issue for Compression Thinking, taking a big look at a total system and translating it into actions that can transform the whole system into a better state – better quality performance using much less water in total.
To do this we are forming a Compression Thinking group centered on water systems. Hopefully, it will devolve into groups looking at systems in local areas where action can be taken. If you are interested in participating, please respond to info@compression.org.