What Water Costs: An Editorial on Water Consumption


 This editorial was posted in The Independent (Tongnip Sunmin) on 30th April 1896 in Korea:

Water is of more value than railroads. For instead of saving money it saves lives.  You can estimate the grade of civilizations of any people by the amount of water they use.

  • Paris heads for the list with seven gallons a day for each individual. 
  • It is probable that a quart a day would suffice for the average Korean.
  • Meanwhile, a pint would be oceans for the ordinary Chinese. 
  • The Japanese are said to be great lovers of water and so they are, but this is somewhat modified by the fact that so many of them are content enough to use it second hand.

Seven gallons a day! Paris was way up the list.

But even back then, some of the Japanese believed in sustainability.  They were willing to recycle water. We've been so involved in trying to stop consuming excess water.  We never thought of the old ways. There is still time to implement old age values into a modern way of living with sustainability. 

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