Extreme weather events are becoming more and more frequent. It can rain too much or not even a drop for months. As Coral Santacruz, a chemical engineer and member of the 11Onze marketing team, argues, rational water consumption is necessary to guarantee water supply and contribute to slowing down climate change.

Rainfall in March and April is making the situation of the reservoirs in Catalonia improve “a little” after a few abnormal months in which “it has hardly rained at all.” This is what Coral Santacruz explains in a new chapter of Territori 17.

Despite this improvement, the chemical engineer and member of the 11Onze marketing team stresses that we must not forget the responsibility that each one of us has when it comes to conserving such a precious resource as water: “It is just as important that it rains, as it is that we are conscious of the way we consume that water.”

Although it is true that in Catalonia the industrial and domestic sectors “consume approximately 20% of water and the remaining 80% is consumed in the agricultural sector”, we can all do our bit to avoid wasting water at home, reasons Santacruz: “We think thato our personal consumption doesn’t have a global effect, but if everyone adopts certain habits, we can significantly help in countering climate change.”

The binomial of water and plastic

As the chemical engineer explains, one problem linked to water consumption is all the plastic generated by bottled water. To give us an idea of the extent of the environmental tragedy, she gives a shocking statistic: “In the last 70 years we have dumped more than 150 million tonnes of plastic into our rivers, seas and oceans.”

In fact, if we don’t put a stop to it, “there will come a time when there will be more plastic than fish in the sea.” And it should be borne in mind that “plastic takes a long time to degrade.” Moreover, these plastics can even reach our bodies because fish and other animals in the marine ecosystem “end up ingesting microplastics,” says Santacruz.

The option of filtered water

To help reduce the generation of plastics, the chemical engineer advocates replacing bottled water consumption with filtered tap water, as the filters allow “many impurities” to be eliminated. Moreover, as Coral Santacruz explains, “they retain chlorine and lime, the main impurities that cause the bad taste of tap water.”

The member of the 11Onze marketing team also stresses the impact that this saving of water and plastic has on the domestic economy thanks to the use of filters: “If we really did the calculation, we would realise how much we save per year” because of “all these bottles” of water that are no longer purchased.

The reality is that the economic factor and the environmental issue are increasingly linked. As Coral Santacruz says, “in the end everything counts, everything is related.”

If you want to discover how to drink the best water, save money and help the planet, go to 11Onze Essentials.