Know Your H2O
From Beachapedia
Know Your H2O is a Surfrider Foundation program designed to educate people on the link between freshwater management issues and the impact on our ocean, waves, and beaches. We advocate for practical and environmentally sound solutions. Know Your H2O is now integrated into Surfrider Foundation's Clean Water Initiative.
Do you know where your water comes from? In many places, water travels hundreds of miles through canals and pipelines before reaching your home. Due to persistent drought, growing population and legislation, less water will be delivered from these sources in the future.
Many rivers near the coast have been paved over, and nearly all storm drain pipes empty into our oceans. This dumps animal waste, pesticides, fertilizers, oil and pollution from our cars and roads, plastics and anything else in our watersheds and ultimately into the ocean.
Through conservation, using climate-appropriate plants, implementing Low Impact Development, capturing and reusing "waste" water, and Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR), we can reduce water pollution in the ocean AND improve our drinking water supply. After all, it's really One Water.
It’s your water, too. Get Involved! Here are a few ways how:
- Identify problems and find solutions. Where is your pollution coming from?
- Host a Rain Barrel Building Workshop
- Pursue a "Sweep Don’t Hose" Ordinance
- Conduct a Climate Change Guerilla Activism Day
- Hold Stormdrain Marking Events and Bioswale Maintenance Events
- Host a Cycle of Insanity event. Click here for the film guide.
- Host a screening of the movie Watershed and have a discussion afterwards. (This film is Southwest centric, but covers many KYH2O elements. Find the film guide here.)
- Find a Water Footprint Calculator you like and possibly host a competition within your City to encourage water conservation.
Relevant Terms:
- Integrated Water Management and One Water
- Water Imports - Southern California
- Water Shortage/Peak Water
- Agriculture - Water Use
- Agriculture - Pollution
- Wetland Destruction
- Impervious Surface
- Groundwater Depletion
- Seawater Intrusion
- Urban Runoff
- Wastewater (Sewer Systems and Wastewater Treatment)
- Wastewater Recycling
- Water Agency Fragmentation
- Desalination
- Residential Water Conservation
- Disposal of Pharmaceuticals
- Ocean Friendly Gardens
- Greywater (1) and (2)
- Low Impact Development and Green Streets
- Stormwater Capture (1) and (2)
Surfrider Foundation featured a series of articles covering various aspects of Know Your H2O in issues of the publication Making Waves during 2010. Topics include An Introduction to Water (February 2010), The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water (April 2010), Recycling Wastewater (June 2010), Ocean Friendly Gardens (August 2010), Ocean Desalination (October 2010), and Low Impact Development (December 2010).
Check out posts concerning Know Your H2O in Surfrider Foundation's Coastal Blog.
This article is part of a series on Clean Water which looks at various threats to the water quality of our oceans, and the negative impacts polluted waters can have on the environment and human health.
For information about laws, policies, programs and conditions impacting water quality in a specific state, please visit Surfrider's State of the Beach report to find the State Report for that state, and click on the "Water Quality" indicator link.
This article is part of a series on the Ocean Ecosystem looking at the various species of plants and animals which depend on a healthy coast and ocean environment, and the threats that can be posed to them by human activity
For information about laws, policies and conditions impacting the beach ecology of a specific state, please visit Surfrider's State of the Beach report to find the State Report for that state, and click on the "Beach Ecology" indicator link.