Some 4.5 billion gallons of water are wasted every day in the United States due to inefficient irrigation—about 16% of all household water use—leading to the depletion of groundwater at unsustainable rates.1 Wasted water ends up in waterways, washing fertilizers with it, which can lead to dead zones and algae blooms in lakes and oceans. It takes energy to treat and pump that freshwater to households—energy whose production contributes to climate change. As climate change raises average temperatures and increases demand for water, while water-stressed plants absorb less carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, compounding the climate crisis.
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