By Mary O’KEEFE

For most of us in the U.S. getting water is as easy as turning on the tap. It’s so easy in fact that we tend to take water for granted. As Californians, I think we are more aware of water than those in a lot of other states because we depend so heavily on other states for our water.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the Colorado River supplies roughly a third of all water for Southern Californian cities and suburbs. And we share this resource with Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado as well as Mexico.

And as we all know the amount of water in the Colorado River is low. Climate change models indicate the river’s volume will continue to decline.

I went searching for how much water we use and, according to the Metropolitan Water District, it delivers on average 1.7 billion gallons of water per day to a service area of 5,200 square miles, which serves about 18 million people.

Here are some interesting facts about how much water we use in a normal day:

Filling a bathtub takes about 36 gallons of water.

A toilet uses, on average, about three gallons of water per flush. Multiply that by six to eight flushes a day to reach a total of 18 to 24 gallons of water.

A 10-minute shower uses about two gallons per minute for a total of 20 gallons.

An average washing machine utilizes about 15 gallons of water per load.

Depending on the efficiency of a dishwasher, it will use anywhere from four to 10 gallons of water per use.

And washing your face, brushing your teeth and other hygiene practices use about two and a half gallons according to the Philadelphia Water Dept. (a great website by the way).

As we go about our lives we don’t often think about how much water we use, we just assume it will be there when we turn on the tap or flush the toilet.

My grandmother and her family moved to the L.A. area when she was very young, so the early 1900s. Her dad worked on the railroad. She lived in a home without indoor plumbing. She told me stories of going to a nearby stream to get water and having to carry it back home. She was very happy to move back to Iowa where their home had indoor plumbing.

I have family who lived on farms where water was pumped for the animals, and using an “outhouse” was normal. I guess because of the stories I heard from my grandma (I can still remember the burn in my muscles from pumping water and having a few nightmares from outhouse visits), I have always had an appreciation for that easily accessible tap water.

I take this luxury, which we all consider a necessity, for granted. That’s why the upcoming A Day Without Water will be a good awakening for us all.

A Day Without Water actually started 10 years ago by the U.S. Water Alliance, which focused on all things water including the aging infrastructure throughout the nation.

“In fact, a water main breaks every two minutes somewhere in this country. We increasingly feel the effects of climate change through water, whether it be scarcity or overabundance. And, though not well known, over two million Americans still lack the dignity of access to water and wastewater services,” according to the U.S. Water Alliance.

In a 2024 Value of Water Index, 88% of American voters polled believe that access to safe and reliable water is a top priority. This is a bipartisan belief, according to the U.S. Water Alliance.

Nationally, A Day Without Water is being held on Oct. 17; however, locally Crescenta Valley Water District (CVWD) will be holding an event on Sept. 28.

The day is set aside for people to think about what it would be like without water – to consider not only on a personal level, like bathing or washing clothes, but on a broader scale what would happen if, for example, there was a fire and no water was available.

Some may think this is a scenario that simply wouldn’t occur; however, this is a real threat and something people know well who have lived through wildfires and floods when water is cut off.

CVWD will be holding A Day Without Water event on Sept. 28 at the Judy Tejeda Reservoir at 4745 Rosemont Ave. in La Crescenta from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

In addition CVWD is inviting middle and high school students to join is hosting a science fiction writing contest to spotlight what life would be like without water.

“The year is 2050. La Crescenta and the American West face an unprecedented crisis: the complete depletion of fresh water. What does life look like in your community when water becomes the most precious and scarce resource? How do people adapt, survive and find new ways to thrive?” states the CVWD website in regard to the contest.

You can go to https://tinyurl.com/37b2ernv for details on the requirements. The top prize is a $100 gift card, second is a $50 gift card and third place will receive a $20 gift card. Submissions will be accepted from now until Sept. 15.

We will see a slight uptick in cooler temperatures in the coming days. We will go from the upper 80s to the low 90s over the weekend and then trending upward next week with Tuesday expected at 96 degrees. The skies are expected to stay clear and the evenings will continue to be cool in the mid to upper 60s.