The State of California has announced the handy showers at state beaches will be shut down. We’re in a drought. That’s 18,000,000 gallons a year!
At first glance, that’s a lot–millions of gallons of water! Not so fast. As in any other story with numbers, it’s got to be put in perspective.
May 7th the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power celebrated “Tap Water Day” and announced to the world:
“Every day, LADWP delivers 550 million gallons of the highest quality water at the lowest possible cost to our 4 million customers in LA,” said Albert Gastelum, LADWP Director of Water Quality.
Some quick back-of-the-envelope math says 550 millions gallons a day is around 200 billion gallons a year. All of a sudden 18 million gallons looks puny, a drop in the bucket.
There’s an old expression about making a futile gesture: “pissing in the ocean.” That’s what this 18 million gallons is, a futile gesture. Families will be inconvenienced with nearly no benefit.
18 million gallons is a rounding error. It’s hardly enough to care about when the City of Los Angeles alone consumes 200 billion gallons every year.
We could achieve the same savings by everyone in LA cutting back water usage by around .01% (a hundredth of a percent).
If that’s not pissing in the ocean, what is?