August is coming to an end. With many preparing for back-to-school, it might feel like summer is also coming to an end. Many of us are trying to soak in the final moments of summer freedom.
There is still plenty to enjoy as the days get slightly shorter and the nights get cooler.
What are you grateful for this summer?
I bet this summer looked a bit different than you expected. Even so, I hope you got to spend time doing some of the activities you love, and maybe you even tried some new ones.
This summer, I’m grateful for my experiences
Canoeing to a campsite on a rocky island in the middle of a pristine lake in Nopiminig Provincial Park
Biking around Winnipeg and on the forested and rocky trails in Whiteshell Provincial Park
Swimming in Lake Winnipeg at the white sand-covered Grand Beach
What did you learn this summer?
Ask yourself what new skills and knowledge will help you live a better future.
Before this summer, I didn’t know that
When soap says it's biodegradable it doesn’t mean that it's safe to use in water
The synthetic material of my athlete shirts is probably releasing microfibres in the wash, which accumulate with other microplastics in Lake Winnipeg
We all need water to live.
Humans can only survive three days without drinking water. Manitoba has an abundance of water, and it plays an essential role in our daily lives, yet often water may be taken for granted.
Think about all the ways you use water in your life, including for
Drinking
Cleaning your clothes
Making your favourite meals
Showering
Flushing the toilet
Recreation (like going to the beach, swimming, paddling, and fishing)
We all play a part in making change happen.
Small changes in our everyday actions and choices can have a profound impact on water.
Some ways you can contribute are
Changing how you mow and take care of your lawn
Choosing certified environmentally friendly cleaning products, like laundry detergent, which helps reduce excess nutrients that cause eutrophication in Lake Winnipeg
Turning off the water tap while you are brushing your teeth in the sink or soaping up in the shower
What changes have you made this summer to help protect water?
I started turning off the shower while soaping up and shampooing.
A shower that lasts 4 minutes uses between 75–150 litres of water. I don’t know about you, but if I had to guess how long I'm in the shower, it would be around 8–12 minutes, meaning I used to see 150-450 litres of water going down the drain every day, just in the shower. That’s around 55,000–164,000 litres per year, which is enough clean water for 50–150 people to drink for the entire year.
With this small change of turning off the shower while soaping up and shampooing, I save 27,000–82,000 litres of clean, drinkable water every year.
Even if I only manage to keep this new change half the time, I save around 14,000-40,000 litres per year. This small action saves enough water to provide at least two families of four enough clean drinking water per year to stay hydrated.
Small actions = big impact.
Learn more small actions you can take to help preserve our clean water.