Around the Water Cooler: Water Sustainability from Across the Globe
By Sarah Blau
Something caught my eye in the ladies’ room of an out-of-the-way restaurant in a small North Carolina town where I spent my July 4th weekend. Pictured in the upper right corner of the ceramic toilet tank was a little blue and green water droplet and the words WaterSense, which I recognized immediately.
WaterSense is EPA’s partnership program designed to protect the future of our nation’s water supply by offering people a simple way to use less water with water-efficient products – products bearing the token blue and green label. Despite being familiar with the program, I was still surprised to discover that small symbol of water conservation in such a rural area. I realized that water conservation (as well as many other water resource sustainability issues) is not limited to one city, to one state, or even to one country. Water resource protection is a global issue, affecting everyone, everywhere.
In fact, I recently learned that Singapore’s National Water Agency, PUB, has a water conservation plan with goals very similar to EPA’s WaterSense. According to PUB’s website, their conservation plan “encourages customers to use water wisely,” and as a result, “Singapore’s per capita domestic water consumption has been brought down from 165 litres per day in 2003 to the current 152 litres.”
David Adelman, U.S. Ambassador to Singapore (left), and Chew Men Leong, Chief Executive, PUB (right). Choi Shing Kwok (center), Singapore’s Permanent Secretary for the Environment and Water Resources served as official witness.
In recognition of the global prevalence of water resource issues and the commonality in water resource goals between the U.S. and Singapore, last month EPA entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with PUB. Signed by the Chief Executive of PUB, Chew Men Leong, and the U.S. Ambassador to Singapore, David Adelman, the MOU paves the way for international collaboration to advance scientific and technical knowledge on pressing water issues.
EPA and PUB are both working toward similar goals for sustainable water management such as providing safe water for the population, promoting industry water clusters (similar to the EPA-supported Confluence), and providing innovative water solutions, jobs, and economic growth. “This partnership will promote safer drinking water and better water resource management,” said Ambassador Adelman. “We’re excited to be a part of it.”
Likewise, I’m excited to hear about this partnership. What better way to confront global water resource concerns than with international collaboration? From the smallest backwoods homestead to the busiest urban business, in this country and across the globe, we share similar water sustainability concerns. So, the wider-spread the research team addressing these issues, the better off we, and our waters, will be.
About the Author: Sarah Blau is a student services contractor working on the Science Communications Team in EPA’s Office of Research and Development.