toilets

Clean running water, an absolute necessity to our very survival, is also incredibly handy around the house. So handy, in fact, that most of us use it wastefully at least part of the time. As our growing population strains our water resources and infrastructure to the limits, costs for providing water will escalate. We can minimize those costs by employing a few simple water conservation methods in our homes.

On World Water Day, as on every other day, some 2.5 billion people are "doing their business" somewhere other than in a toilet or latrine. Thatis not a statistic many people want to examine too closely, but it is crucial data for efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals on improving global sanitation and reducing child mortality.

Over 2.6 billion people still do not have access to any form of improved sanitation that doesn't pollute water and soil. The UN's goal is to halve that number within 8 years, which means the construction of 100,000 earth-friendly toilets a day - a number that's achievable according to delegates of the recent World Toilet Organization summit.

Currently, there are more than 176 "green" colleges and universities, according to the U.S. Green Buildings Council, and the number continues to grow. Among them is Portland State University. Their newest engineering building has natural lighting, and natural ventilation. Rainwater is also captured on rooftops and treated on site to be used to flush toilets.