Did you know that:

• It takes about 250 gallons of water to generate the electricity used at home by each American per day.
  
• The average American flushes about 18.5 gallons down the toilet at his or her home per day—a total of 5.7 billion gallons of water per day in the United States.
  
• In 2008, Atlanta came within 90 days of running entirely out of clean water.
  
• Last year, Americans spent a whopping $21 billion on bottled water—more than on iPods or movie tickets.

These and other disturbing facts about how Americans use—or should I say, waste—water can be found in a new must-read by Charles Fishman (yes, the guy who wrote the book about Wal-Mart). Titled The Big Thirst, this book investigates how Americans have grown to completely take water for granted and how we have now entered a new era of “high-stakes water.” Although Fishman discusses the innovative ways our country is attempting to address the water issue, he contends that the real challenge is changing our water consciousness.
According to Mary Ann Dickinson, president and CEO of the Alliance for Water Efficiency, this is one book everyone should read. “There have lately been a number of books about water, but I think this one is clearly the best,” she says. “In a very readable and entertaining form, it describes what our issues really are with water, and why we are headed for a serious problem in this country if we don’t stop taking water for granted. I am now carrying this book everywhere I go as a public speaker and urging audiences to read it. It’s that good.”

Check it out at http://www.thebigthirst.com/.