Water Quality - The Bigger Picture

We are fortunate to live in an area where freshwater is abundant.  Our nearly effortless access to clean water makes it easy for us to ignore the fact that even simple choices in our daily lives can add up to big consequences for long-term water quality on the planet. We are currently developing more content for this section of our website, but for now we wanted to post a new EPA study published in November of 2021 titled, ‘From Farm to Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste’.  This pdf is a lengthy publication and the full document is linked below.   But the short version is that Americans waste a LOT of food.  Over one-third of food produced in the U.S. is never eaten – wasting the natural resources used to produce it.  Food waste is the single most common material landfilled and incinerated in the U.S., comprising 24% of landfilled and 22% of combusted municipal solid waste. Reducing and preventing food waste can increase food security, foster productivity and economic efficiency, promote resource and energy conservation, and address climate change. The following infographic puts this waste into perspective.

We need to do better! Landfills are full of individual choices - we should all strive to make better choices. Conservation of our natural resources IS a better choice.

Future plans are to add information about septic care and reducing wastewater runoff, plastic pollution in water, light pollution, etc. Please check back soon.