Across the United States, a punishing drought and relentless heat wave are forcing communities to rethink their water habits. From Virginia to Colorado, New Jersey to the Carolinas, residents are being asked—or in some cases ordered—to conserve water. The requests are familiar: take shorter showers, turn off the tap while brushing your teeth, skip washing your car at home, and let the lawn go brown. Some areas are making these measures voluntary, while others have banned water waste outright, with fines for those who don’t comply.
But here’s the twist: agriculture uses far more water than households nationwide. So does your shorter shower or unwatered lawn really matter? Yes, but it’s not as simple as it seems, says Shimon Anisfeld, a water conservation expert at the Yale School of the Environment and author of “Water Management: Prioritizing Justice and Sustainability.”
Household water comes from a limited supply that’s often separate from the vast reserves used for farming. This setup varies by region, but local governments frequently rely on residents to protect their own residential water sources. The bottom line, Anisfeld explains, is that collective action is key. “It’s just like voting. Any one vote doesn’t matter, but collectively, voting matters,” he says. “If you live in a city of 1 million people, your 15% cut in water use isn’t going to save the city, but if everybody does it, then you really have an effect.”
As of July 2, the U.S. Drought Monitor reports that nearly half of the continental United States—48%—is experiencing at least moderate drought, with over 30% classified as severe. The worst-hit regions include the West, where wildfires are raging, parts of the High Plains, the Southeast, and the Mid-Atlantic.
In Virginia, Governor Abigail Spanberger is urging all residents, especially those in Southside and Central Virginia, to conserve water as the drought strains communities and farmers. Suggested measures include reducing lawn and garden watering to alternating days, watering only between dusk and dawn, turning off ornamental fountains, cutting back on vehicle washing, and limiting pool filling. On July 1, Richmond and surrounding counties announced voluntary water restrictions, triggered when average water flows drop to 1,700 cubic feet per second for 14 consecutive days.
In Cañon City, Colorado, authorities aim for a 20% to 30% reduction in water use, asking residents to voluntarily cut outdoor consumption. Meanwhile, in some New Jersey communities and the Carolinas, restrictions are no longer voluntary. In Raleigh, North Carolina, there have been 748 violations of Stage One water restrictions as of June 29, according to Raleigh Water Assistant Director Edward Buchan. Violators receive warning letters before fines, and water may eventually be disconnected. So far, one $50 and one $200 civil penalty have been issued. Residents are also asked to limit consumption to 65 gallons per person per day.
When a city or utility asks for conservation, it usually signals increased strain on the local water supply, Anisfeld notes. On a local scale, water use breaks down into three categories: household, industrial or commercial, and non-revenue water (like firefighting and leaks). In most cities, household use is the largest of the three. In drier regions, outdoor use—watering lawns and filling pools—dominates. In wetter climates, indoor use, like showers, becomes more impactful.
“Showers can actually be the biggest single water use in the house,” Anisfeld says, noting that newer appliances like dishwashers and washing machines use less water than they once did. “Showers have become relatively more important as everything else has gotten more efficient.” According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average U.S. shower lasts about eight minutes and uses 16 gallons of water. The country uses over 1 trillion gallons of water annually just on showering. If every person cut their shower by one minute, the nation would save 170 billion gallons a year.
Municipalities are allocated a set amount of water for homes, businesses, and public works, which is different from the supply for agriculture. City water is treated for safe consumption, while agricultural water is not. Reallocating water between the two would be legally and physically challenging, Anisfeld explains, sometimes requiring entirely new pipe systems. “Generally speaking, a city has a limited water supply. At the scale of the city struggling to provide water during drought, households are critical,” he says. “At the scale of the state of California, households are really important, but agriculture has to be part of the solution.”
Another controversy involves data centers used to fuel artificial intelligence, which consume huge amounts of water—up to 5 million gallons a day, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. That’s as much as a small town. An analysis by the Guardian found that most planned AI data centers are expected to be built in drought-prone areas, often pulling from municipal water supplies. Though data centers use a small fraction of the overall U.S. water supply, Anisfeld notes, “At the local scale, if you’ve got a large data center and you have a drought, you may get those messages that really piss people off, because they understand they’re being asked to sacrifice for something they didn’t ask for.”
