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The drought is big news in California, but California is not alone. Climate change will exacerbate¹ water issues. So what should we do to save water? Turns out that most of us don’t really know, according to research in the Proceedings² of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Shazina Attari at Indiana University surveyed more than one thousand Americans online. Respondents were first asked what they could do to conserve³ the most water.

The vast majority chose shortening(?) an activity, such as taking a shorter shower. They didn’t give much weight to efficiency measures that involve changing the devices themselves; such as retro -filling a toilet, which is in fact the most significant water saving change an average person can make.

Participants also tended to underestimate the water required for activities such as car washing or washing clothes. For instance, the average guess was that a standard washing machine uses fourteen gallons water, it actually uses about thirty four. These results indicate that Americans don’t have a good handle on when they use the most water. Such awareness⁴ is critical today in California, but is likely to become important for many other regions in the not-too-distant future.

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