How do forest conserve water?

What do Europeans do to conserve water?

• I am a geography teacher and we are looking at how environment affects culture. We know that the average European frowns on waste, especially as regards water and gasoline. Water wasting is getting to be a problem in the state of Mexico where I live and teach, and so we'd like to get the students to appreciate how water scarcity has influenced the way Europeans live (vs. here where the students brag about taking 30-minute showers). I know that many Europeans (based on experiences of teachers here who have lived abroad and a British teacher who works with me) take minimal showers (not necessarily washing their hair daily), scrape plates with a spatula before washing, use water-saving taps, toilets, etc. However, these are limited examples of what I imagine is a much wider, conservative phenomenon. I would appreciate knowing more specific techniques used to conserve water, be it in the home, workplace, farms, etc. THANK YOU!

• Answer:

  In some (very few,) houses the rain water is used to clear the toilet and/or saved to water the plants in the garden. Most toilets have a water saving button, a small reservoir and are designed not to have a lot of water in them. (First time I used a toilet in the USA I thought it was blocked, with so much water standing in it.) Our washing machines and dish washers are build to conserve water. And we are asked just to use them with a full load. We are asked to close the tap while brushing our teeth. Use just enough water for cleaning the car, not waste it. To take showers rather than tub baths. Water saving taps are rather common, as are the buttons in public buildings which will only give water when pushed in. But overall, in western Europe most people use more water per day than most people in Northern Africa in a month. (Or even a year.)