This year Mobiletuts+ is taking part in Blog Action Day to raise awareness about clean water and water conservation. Why water? Because water could become the scarcest resource of the 21st century and because conservation starts at home. This post reviews a number of different iOS applications available that aim to raise awareness and promote education about one of life's most vital resources!

Virtual Water

The last time you enjoyed a steak dinner or had scrambled eggs for breakfast, you probably weren’t thinking about the amount of fresh water that was used to produce your meal. The purpose of the Virtual Water app is to raise awareness of the “invisible” water consumption footprint of food and other everyday items. Think about this: the water footprint of a single package of paper is approximately 1,373 gallons. A single egg requires approximately 43 gallons, and a moderate, 8-ounce steak would require approximately 982 gallons!

How Blue Are You?

American Standard has launched a “Responsible Bathroom Campaign” to help raise awareness of water conservation. The How Blue Are You? application is a part of that campaign, and allows users to calculate the water usage of American Standard products. In addition to the usage calculator, the app also has a quiz with tips for making your home more water efficient.

My Water Diary

This application is a great way to track your personal water consumption on a day-to-day basis. It provides water usage statistics for all of the most common lifestyle tasks, such as machine washing clothes, showering, cooking, and, yes, flushing the toilet. If you’re so bold, you can even link the application with your Twitter account to keep the world informed of your consumption habits!

ShowerTime

While showering is generally more water efficient than bathing, it can be easy to stay in longer than you intend. ShowerTime was designed to help you conserve both water and energy by using multiple alarms to help you keep track of how long you’ve been in the shower without looking at a clock. After completing your shower, the app will also tell you approximately how much water was used and how much that usage cost.

Drip Detective

At some point or another, everyone encounters a leaky faucet. This application was designed to help you quantify the cost and resource usage associated with those drips. Each time a drip occurs, you tap the screen and repeat for three or four taps. The app then determines the speed of your leak and estimates the cost of the leak over-time. There is also a feature to measure by volume for faster leaks. If you weren’t inspired to fix the leak before using this app, you will be after!

Water: An Environmental Quiz Deck

This application presents a series of questions revolving around water and the environment. The app includes 48 different questions with elaborative answers aimed at increasing your knowledge and appreciation for this precious resource.

Ten Drops

The focus of 10 drops is conservation and intelligent use of resources. You begin each level with a set number of drops, and you must use them to expand water blobs that burst when they become too large. The goal of the game is to wisely use the drops on each level to cause all the blobs to bust.