How many cups of water per day ensures that we’re properly hydrated? It’s a straightforward question with no clear answer.

The Institute of Medicine recommends 13 cups of water per day for men, and 9 cups of water per day for women. However, there are so many factors that affect individual water requirements that no two people need the same amount. The question then is not how many cups of water per day we all need but how many you need.

Importance of Daily Water Intake

Water is incredibly healing, both on the inside and out. When your body loses water, it also loses electrolytes, such as potassium, sodium and chloride. By the time you notice obvious signs of thirst, such as a dry mouth, lips or skin, your body is already dehydrated. Perhaps you feel more tired than usual, are dealing with a headache or occasional dizziness, or feeling weak. These are all symptoms of dehydration.

Another way to determine whether you’re getting enough water is by looking at your urine. The darker yellow your urine is, the more water you need. Your pee should be nearly clear.

Factors That Influence Hydration Needs

Your weight provides another way to estimate how many cups of water per day is right for your body.  A good rule of thumb is to consume half of your body weight (in pounds) in ounces of water. For exampl: If you weigh 150 pounds, this means you should be consuming 75 ounces (about 9.5 cups) of water per day. However, this short-cut still fails to take some factors into consideration.

Climate, perspiration levels, bowel movement frequency, diet and overall health can alter your water needs. Someone who tends to eat dry foods, such as bagels, pastas, nuts, grains, and dried fruit will require more water to compensate than someone who consumes a lot of water-containing foods such as raw fruits and vegetables. Also, those who consume alcohol will also require more water consumption as alcohol has a diuretic affect on the body. An active individual will lose a lot of water through sweat and will thus need to drink more water than someone who is relatively inactive.

How Many Cups of Water Per Day Do You Really Need?

The best advice is to feel it out, and instead of worrying about an exact amount, pay attention to your hydration habits. Sometimes it is hard to tell when you are thirsty or not. Here are some tips to getting enough water.

1. Begin each day with 1 liter (just over 4 cups) of water to set the stage.
2. Pay attention to “hunger” cues. Are you simply craving liquids?
3. 30 minutes before lunch and dinner, drink 1 cup of water.
4. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.
5. While working out, have a water bottle nearby to sip as you go.
6. Drink 1 cup of water in between alcoholic beverages.
7. After a night drinking alcohol, down 1 liter of water before bed. This will help you to avoid a hangover as well!
8. For every cup of coffee, drink 1 cup of water.
9. Enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables juices – they can be counted as part of your daily water fix.

Related on EcoSalon:

Foodie Underground: Undertone of Sparkles

The Coming Global Water Crisis and 3 Ways to Deal with It

6 Things You Didn’t Know about Water

Image Credit: Papillon Jewelry

The post How Many Cups of Water Per Day Do You Really Need? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Our lives depend on water, but we’re guzzling much more than our fair share.

Water is essential to every part of our daily lives, whether we are coming into direct contact with the liquid or not. Water is necessary for anything from keeping us hydrated to growing the food we eat and many of the raw materials needed to produce the objects we use. We tend to see water as a readily available substance that appears when we turn on the tap, not realizing how every single choice we make affects the world’s constantly declining supply of water. We are currently using up so much of the world’s water that it is projected that by 2030 water demand will exceed supply by 40 percent. That’s only 17 years away – what will we do?

It takes up to 2,000 gallons of water a day to sustain the lifestyle of an average U.S. citizen, and according to water expert Sandra Postel, more than half of it goes into our diet. A single pound of beef requires 1,799 gallons of water while 132 gallons of water are required for a pound of wheat and 119 gallons for a pound of potatoes. Beverages also have highly varying water footprints, as 1 gallon of coffee requires 880 gallon of water, while 1 gallon of tea requires 128 gallons of water and a gallon of wine requires 1,008 gallons of water. We can obviously make wiser dietary choices when it comes to our water footprint by choosing lower impact foods. But it seems that most of the country has been slow to do so, seeing as we consumed more than 52 billion pounds of meat in 2012 for example.

Global agricultural production alone accounts for 92 percent of the total water footprint, but food crops make-up only part of the equation. Textiles, biofuels, paper, fiber composites, coal and oil all require water use. We use these resources all the time, but not many of us consider that more than 700 gallons of water were used to produce just one of our many cotton t-shirts or that more than 13 gallons are necessary for five sheets of paper.

One of the main reasons our society does not understand the true value of water is our disconnection from the origin of our products and their supply chains. Most of the water use for the products we consume occurs far away from our daily lives as several large companies have outsourced their production to countries where water is over-exploited and valued at lower prices. Half of China’s industrial production and 40 percent of its agricultural activity occurs in the country’s driest regions despite extremely high risk of damage to long-term water supplies. The ‘Made in China’ label can means much more than possible labor exploitation, poor working conditions and cheap materials – it also demonstrates how the largest water footprint of the USA lies in the Yangtze River basin.

Fresh drinking water is another issue that many of us in first-world countries don’t really have to consider, as we can easily get it from our filtered tap or buy it from the store. Although 70 percent of the Earth is covered by water, most of it is saline and ocean-based. Only 2.5 of the world’s water is fresh, with only 1 percent of it accessible, as the rest is trapped in glaciers and snowfields. Water scarcity already affects 2.7 billion people every year, but the amount of people facing that problem is set to grow. It’s estimated that by 2025 two-thirds of the world’s population will live in water-stressed or water scarce regions.

So what can you do to make a difference? The first step is to educate yourself, and understand the water footprints of the different products you buy, and find possible alternatives. Our choices as consumers make a significant difference to the way businesses operate worldwide. National Geographic has created an online platform that allows you to compare the water footprints of different agricultural crops and gives tips on how to conserve water on a daily basis. Educating yourself on greywater systems and how to effectively implement them in your toilet or irrigation makes an immense difference. You can also ask businesses and municipalities to adopt sensible water recycling schemes by writing to them, so make your voice heard. We are already in the middle of a water crisis, it just hasn’t become as pertinent in the lives of those who still have access to clean water. Let’s realize it by becoming aware and active in curbing the effects while we still can – every drop counts.

Image: likeablerodent

The post H2O Footprint: Do We Really Know How Much Our Drinking Water is Worth? appeared first on EcoSalon.

You’re not the only one who will enjoy cleaner drinking water with a Soma Water Filter. Now, buying one also gives money to clean water projects in Africa.

Even with the Clean Water Act, enjoying a glass of safe, delicious H20 isn’t as easy as you might think. Chemicals, residual pharmaceuticals, and straight up bacteria linger in even the cleanest public water supplies. And despite the higher price tag, bottled water isn’t much better.

Many have resorted to water filtration, whether a refillable jug or an under-sink system, to add a double layer of protection. Even these extra precautions have their drawbacks, however. Most only last a month or two before the filter becomes compromised, and then you’ve got to spend a lifetime buying refills.

Soma is a water filter of a different kind. The result of a successful crowdfunding project, the Soma features a beautiful glass carafe and 100 percent compostable filter made from all-natural Malaysian coconut shells, vegan silk, and food-based PLA plastic. Replacement filters are delivered right to your door via subscription service so you’ll never forget to replace the filter on time. But a unique, sustainable design is only the beginning of the Soma water filter’s positive impact.

This month, Soma embarked on a partnership with charity:water, an organization that uses 100 percent of its public donations to fight the growing water crisis all over the world. Now, every time you purchase a Soma water filter, you’ll be helping to fund well-building projects in Africa, and giving people access to safe, clean drinking water for the first time in their lives.

As part of the partnership, members of the Soma team recently traveled to Ethiopia with a diverse crew of story tellers to record the every day life of those who struggle to find suitable drinking water, and how the projects funded through charity:water are changing their lives.

The charity:water partnership is “a reflection of the product–water without compromise,” Soma co-founder Mike Del Ponte told Fast Co. Exist. “We want to hit on every level: user experience, the charitable element, the subscription model, and with the storytelling, we don’t want the traditional video of one person talking. It’s experiential, auditory, visual.”

Image: SomaWater.Co

The post The Soma Water Filter: Tiny Footprint, Big Impact appeared first on EcoSalon.

Imagine your village’s water supply was about to be contaminated by nuclear waste from a nearby dump and the federal government simply offered to put a fence around it. If you were the Hopi Nation, you’d sue.

In the 1950s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs created an unlined, unrestricted dump a few miles from a uranium mill on Navajo and Hopi land. Everything from uranium tailings to medical waste has been dumped there over the decades. The dump was closed – covered over with sand and dirt – in 1997 and the Hopi and Navajo people have been fighting for a cleanup ever since.

Studies have confirmed that groundwater near the dump contains levels of uranium, arsenic, chromium and more that far exceed what is considered safe. What’s the “safe” level of uranium, anyway? And after years of watching government agencies hem and haw over the issues (yes, even offering to simply build a fence around the dump), the Hopi Nation is fed up. They plan to take serious legal action.

And they’re not just suing as a matter of principle, but because a uranium-contaminated water plume is headed directly for the Hopi water supply. Drinking water is a precious commodity, especially in the Arizonan high desert, and it was governmental mismanagement that led to the problem in the first place.

It’s hard to believe that anyone could sue the government itself and succeed, but with President Obama’s more sensitive leadership, maybe this major law suit (which includes the Department of Energy, Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency) will make the United States government pay better attention to the real and ongoing saga of Native American affairs.

The post Hopi Nation to Sue the U.S. Government Over Environmental Charges appeared first on EcoSalon.

Living in New Zealand, a country that has, in my opinion, the best and safest drinking water, it’s hard to imagine that one-sixth of the world’s population (nearly one billion people) are without clean water on a daily basis.

Most of us simply acknowledge information such as this by finding an organization to donate some money to help fund clean water campaigns and then move on to the next pressing issue. But some Iowa engineering students didn’t. They heard the facts and then rolled up their sleeves and designed a $5, hand-held device that can sanitize water, saving lives as a result.

What started as a simple class project has developed into something much, much bigger. The hand sanitizer took away the First Prize at the 2008 Environmental Protection Agency Awards, a prize that is worth $75,000. The win is prestigious enough but to the students at UI College of Engineering, the money is the key, for it’s going to be used to make water sanitizers available to Ghana and other developing countries in the future.

Source

Image: Snap

The post Changing the World for $5 appeared first on EcoSalon.