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Home Builders Need To Prepare
January 19, 2021

As day zero approaches, home builders need to prepare

Day Zero, the day when tap water will no longer be available, has happened in several places in the world in recent years and is predicted to start afflicting more and more cities within the next decade, with Los Angeles and New York in the top of possibilities worldwide.

This crisis would be incredibly devastating, but it can be slowed down. New home design and the education of residents could transform a typical 500 liter per day user to just 50 liters per day without significant sacrifice, which is the goal of a new coalition, called the 50L Home Coalition.

At the head of the coalition is global consumer product manufacturer Procter & Gamble. I recently toured the company’s booth at the 2021 digital Consumer Electronics Show to learn about the coalition with government agency members and other companies like Kohler.

Frantz Beznik, research and development senior director and global head of sustainable innovation at Procter & Gamble, is spearheading the project, which started two years ago when Cape Town was faced with Day Zero threats because of a massive drought.

Because of the critical supply issue, Beznik was forced to ask, “What if our homes tomorrow could run at 50L per day per person yet feel like 500L?” That was the question that became the ambition of the 50L Home and that drove them to the tradeshow to share awareness and to seek additional partnerships to turn the dream into reality.

Walking around the virtual booth, visitors can see the different things water is used for every day – washing hands, doing laundry, drinking, cooking, washing dishes, showering, flushing the toilet and more.

The tour also offers true quantification of some of the water usage. For instance, a 10-minute shower can use up to 100L of water. Plus, a booth callout states that most of the water usage in the home is heated water, and after heating the home, the process of heating water is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Keep reading on Forbes.com