Gregg Schlanger
B.W.R. (basic water requirements) 50 Liters

2010
installation

Basic Water Requirements (BWR) refers to domestic water usage per person per day and includes water for: drinking, human hygiene, sanitation services and food preparation. It has been established that the Basic Water Requirements (BWR) per person is 50 liters of water each day for basic human needs. Unfortunately 20% of the world's population only uses around 5 liters each day. More than 1 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water and do not have access to the basic water requirements of 50 liters per day.

Each of the one-gallon bottles represents a different country and indicates the amount of water used per person per day in each country. The house structure, a simple three-dimension line drawing, is used to represent home. It is used to represent the domestic use of water around the world.

It is my intention to bring awareness about this global crisis through this piece. As a global community, we should guarantee that every person has access and the right to at least 50 liters of clean water everyday.


(Most world organizations and agencies have adapted the Basic Water Requirements of 50 liters established by Peter H. Gleick of the Pacific Institute. The database from the World Resources Institute is the standard used by most organizations to calculate the liters per day per person on water usage. The data used in this project is based on this information.)

Link to the project