As we roll into the winter months, many of us are preparing for the holidays. It’s a time to cook good food, spend time with loved ones and show your gratitude through gift-giving. While it gets colder outside, our homes become warmer and cozier inside. This month, we will focus on how to minimize a lesser known side effect of the holiday season: increased water usage. The average family of four uses almost 400 gallons of water daily. During the holidays, though, this number more than doubles to over 800 gallons per day!

During a time of the year when we are giving thanks for all of the wonderful things in our lives, it only makes sense to extend that same gratitude to Planet Earth. So, to kick this month off, let’s bring awareness to some the reasons our water usage can go up in the winter months:

Increased Cooking & Food Prep

One of the best parts of the holidays is cooking delicious meals. However, cooking larger meals and cooking them more frequently than normal does result in higher water usage. From using water to cook to using water to clean dishes, these meals can carry a fairly large water footprint.

Extra Houseguests

During the holidays, many of us will host extended family, out-of-town friends, and have large gatherings. More people in a house simply results in more water being used. More drinking water, more toilet flushes, more showers – all of it adds up to increase our water footprint.

Warming Up with Hot Water

As it gets cold outside, sometimes we turn to warm water to warm us up instead of clothing and blankets. We take longer showers, maybe even warm baths to find comfort from the cold outside. 

Humidifier Use

As it gets cold outside, we will eventually find ourselves turning on the heat (maybe you already have!). The downside to this is that the heat can make our skin dryer, and many of us turn to the use of humidifiers to combat that dryness. This is a use of water that is far more common in the winter months.

While these factors contribute to increased water usage, there are many simple and effective solutions we can implement to reduce our water footprint during the holidays. Stay tuned for the following weeks’ articles, where we will share practical tips and strategies to help you conserve water and make this holiday season more sustainable!