Water accounts for roughly 70% of the earth. It also makes up about 60% of the human body. Although there is an abundance of ocean water, freshwater is very scarce. Out of all the water on earth freshwater accounts for about 3%. In New Jersey the water reservoirs in the Highlands provide water to nearly half the states population. In Union County, people in residential areas and office buildings waste potable, drinkable water on activities that can use grey water of rainwater as a substitute and have the same result. On average people use about 80 gallons of potable water a day. This number could be almost cut in half if people would recycle grey water and use it in bathrooms, for land irrigation, and also for washing cars or the outside of their house. A short time ago Hurricane Sandy destroyed parts of New Jersey and also contaminated a number of freshwater lakes and reservoirs with raw sewage, which carried high levels of bacteria and viruses in it. This caused these freshwater basins to be re-treated in order to make sure the water was potable again. This cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars, and resulted in Governor Chris Christie to declare a state of water emergency which regulated how much water residents were allowed to use daily. Another concern that will affect the amount of available freshwater is New Jerseys rapidly increasing population. In 12 years the states population is expected to increase by about 1 million people. This will greatly increase the demand for freshwater and will force people to find ways of reusing grey water in order to conserve freshwater. People need to start collecting and recycling grey water and storm water so that we can lessen the demand of freshwater and preserve it for many years to come.
Recently New Jersey's water sources have been greatly affected by Hurricane Sandy. The storm forced 70 water facilities to close during and after the storm.