Giorgio Armani Acqua For Life 10 litres A Day Challenge

Over 800 million people around the world live in water poverty – meaning they don’t have safe, reliable access to clean water. Often, women and children will have to walk for hours a day to access dirty, contaminated water, as that is their only choice.

I was recently asked if I would like to take part in the Giorgio Armani Acqua For Life Challenge - To try to live on just 10 litres a day. 

I am going to be honest and say that even though my household is on a water meter I never really give a thought to the amount of water I use or need. I take for granted the fact that I have access to clean water every day. When I read a bit more about what Acqua For Life is all about, I was curious to see how far I would get with 10 litres.... 

The answer was not far at all. By 10 am today I was all out of water and had managed to do just a few  of the things that I normally do...

10 litres of water provided me with the following -

2 cups of tea 

wash my face, 

brush my teeth 

no way enough to even have a shower... 

It made me really stop and think.. I hadn't even flushed the toilet, washed up my crockery or used the washing machine. The reality is that 10 litres is a tiny amount, water is a precious resource and yet where we have access to it we can quite easily each use 100 litres! 

Below is a breakdown of the amount of litres consumed in average water usage

2 – 5  Drinking 

2 – 5  Cooking

2 – 5  Hand washing 

5        House cleaning 

25      Bath 

2+      Dishwashing 

20+    Garden/crops 

20+    Toilet flush

Handy Tips To Cut Your Water Consumption - do you do any of these already?

1. Say no to soap Antibacterial hand gel is just as hygienic as soap – and doesn't use any water. 

2. Stay shallow You only need to just cover your vegetables to boil them. And choose the smallest pan you can. 

3. Put down that watering can Most house plants die from over-watering, not dehydration. Give them a break! 

4. Brush brighter There’s no need to keep your tap running while brushing your teeth, you know. 

5. Brick it up Putting something big and heavy in your cistern will reduce the amount of water used each time you flush. 

6. Washing machines use a lot of water, so it’s worth waiting until you have a full load.

Acqua for Life, the humanitarian project by Giorgio Armani. 

We hardly think about how much of a necessity water is in everyday life. It’s easy to forget that in some places only 10 liters a day is a luxury and clean water is hard to come by. Giorgio Armani believes that everyone deserves access to clean water. Since 2011, Acqua for Life has provided over 530 million liters of clean water to nearly 80 communities, in seven countries and on three continents. With your help, we can do even more and help improve lives. #helpgivewater : show your support by getting involved on acquaforlife.org