Reply #14: Part of it is due to diversion, part of it to the treatment process.

[Nihil]

> I took my 25 gallons and I gave them back 25 gallons.

The place where you took your 25 gallons is different to the place where
you gave it back. Now multiply that out by the number of people doing it
and suddenly you have a major change in water flow.

I don't know the area where you are but it will almost certainly involve
the loss of water from a section of river which will thus impact the
environment along that stretch. Most of the time, this will be quite a
large stretch as - to minimise the energy required for pumping - the route
will normally be set up to keep gravity working with the flow rather than
against it.

Sometimes, the water source is an underground aquifer (a.k.a. "fossil water")
and these days, most are being drained far in excess of their refill rate.
This has an impact on the overlying area, sometimes through changes to the
groundwater patterns (dragging groundwater flows deeper), sometimes even to
the extent of subsidence.

As s4p said upthread: we're bringing water to potability, then contaminating
it again, then re-treating for release. This is "wasted" unless you are actually
drinking the water - as for all other purposes - it doesn't *need* to be that
pure. The purification processes vary (depending on the initial state of the
intake) but will usually require the addition of stabilisers (hence adding the
cost & impact of the preparation of the same) as well as suitable areas of
land in which to perform the operations (settling tanks, holding reservoirs).


Please note that none of the above is intended as a criticism of you or your
luxurious showering as the amount you use (whether regarded as "valid consumption"
or "waste") is still a drop in the bucket (sorry, couldn't resist) compared to the
amount that is truly wasted every day via agricultural & industrial consumption.

:hi: