Ford has made massive water savings in the production of its cars over the past ten years, and it plans to reduce its water usage even further over the coming years.

Between 2000 and 2010 Ford reduced its global water usage by 62%, or 10.5 billion gallons. On a per-vehicle basis that’s a 49% decrease, and now the company is introducing a new aggressive water strategy aiming at a further global reduction target of 30% per vehicle by 2015.

Sue Cischke, group vice president for sustainability, environment and safety engineering, said: "Water remains one of our top environmental priorities and our aggressive reduction target helps ensure continued focus on this critical resource."

The 10.5 billion gallon reduction over a ten year period is the equivalent of how much water 105,000 average American homes would use annually according to figures from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

The water savings come from a mixture of new practices, including the successful recycling of waste water for high quality reuse and in cutting the amount of water necessary to complete certain tasks.

It’s something we can all put into practice to help save water. We can recycle old bath water and other forms of ‘grey’ water (such as from washing the pots) to give the garden a drink; all you need is a Ripple water bucket.

And it’s easy to cut the amount of water needed to, say, brush your teeth; just turn the tap off. It might take us more than ten years to save 10.5 billion gallons, but little acorns, mighty oaks etc.

[Image: sarahlarson]