{"id":58119,"date":"2017-02-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-28T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/02\/28\/livegreen-net-zero-water\/"},"modified":"2022-09-02T17:14:13","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T22:14:13","slug":"livegreen-net-zero-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/02\/28\/livegreen-net-zero-water\/","title":{"rendered":"LiveGreen: Net zero water"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve been watching the news, you’ve heard a lot about water. It’s easy to forget how valuable water is to us, as we can turn on the faucet and get fresh, clean water whenever we want it. If we were under drought restrictions<\/a>, had contaminated water, or had to haul it from a nearby reservoir, our attitudes would quickly change.<\/p>\n

UNMC\/Nebraska Medicine recently announced their commitment to reduce water use to “Net Zero Water.” This does not mean we won’t use any water. We will still use water, we’ll still have green space, and we’ll always recommend washing hands! <\/p>\n

The goal means that by 2030, we’ll only use as much water as falls on our property in an average year. As of right now, that would mean we would use 104 million gallons of water per year. That’s a lot of water, enough to fill 160 Olympic swimming pools. Still, it’s a 55 percent reduction from our 2010 baseline, and 33 percent reduction from where we are now. So we have some work to do.<\/p>\n

Reductions at home are important too. Did you know most of us use 20 gallons of water per shower?<\/a> Or that the EPA estimates Nebraska to be one of the top seven states for water use per capita?<\/a> <\/p>\n

Here are some simple things you can do to have a sizable impact:<\/p>\n