Photo via Flickr user Phil Whitehouse
Droughtshaming is a real thing, complete with hashtag. And though celebrities like Babs, Yeezus, Magnum PI, and even Oprah have been outed for wasting water, drought shaming is now also happening to the ordinary residents of the continuously parched Pacific Northwest.
The California state government actually has an app for drought shaming, and on it you can apply your Hitler Youth spy skills to tattle on your neighbors for their excessive water use and get them fined. Neighbor's dog won't shut up? Get even by turning them in for having a green lawn. Or if you just feel like stabbing them in the front instead of the back, you can just go on social media and let your friends and followers know who to hate.
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But what hasn't been reported anywhere is that how this hog's excessive water usage is just a drop in the Willamette River compared to the amount of water the city of Portland wastes with its downtown drinking fountains. Named the Benson Bubblers after Simon Benson, the local philanthropist who, in 1912, donated $10,000 to buy the first 20, the bronze fountains are one of Portland's iconic features. There are now 52 in total, and they rarely stop running.While social media vigilantes and activist newspapers call for the heads of citizens, the city's excesses are largely ignored.According to the city statistics, the Bubblers use one-tenth of one percent of Portland's water. That may seem small, but when you consider the retail water usage in Portland—the water used by most homes and businesses—was 19.1 billion gallons in 2013, that small percentage looks a lot larger.The Benson Bubblers use at least 19 million gallons of water a year, most of it literally going down the drain. That's nearly 40 swimming pools worth of water wasted.
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Likewise, not only is California's drought-shaming of celebrities largely symbolic, but so is its entire conservation effort. California residents cut their water usage by nearly 30 percent, topping their goal of 25 percent, but it will have little effect on overall water consumption. Such residential use is only about 10 percent of the total water use in California. About 41 percent is agricultural and nearly 50 percent is environmental in the form of scenic rivers, wetlands, fish habitats, and so on.While some may get off on drought-shaming and others might laugh about it, it's going to take a lot more than guilt to save Oregon and California as we know it.All this, while two thirds of Oregon is in a dire state of drought-stricken emergency.