Drip, drop, drip, drop, plop. The leaky faucet was disturbing one member of a sleepover.

"Gee, that's getting really annoying," said Tim, turning over in bed.

"Huh? What's getting annoying?" asked Tuck, sleepily.

"The faucet dripping. Can't you hear that?" Tim answered.

"Oh, that. It always drips. Guess I must be used to the sound. It doesn't bother me. Just put the pillow over your head and go back to sleep," said Tuck.

"I can't," said Tim. "Don't you know how much good water a dripping faucet wastes?"

"No, not really, but it can't be very much," replied Tuck. "If you feel it's that important, get up and turn off the faucet. I'm not getting out of this warm bed for anything but an earthquake or breakfast."

"Important!" Tim said. "You bet it is. Not only do we drink and wash with it, water also puts food on our table. Over time, small drips can add up. At 60 drops per minute, one leaky faucet loses seven gallons a day, or 2,777 gallons a year. That's 55 baths! Try to imagine how much water could be wasted if thousands of houses didn't fix their dripping faucets? Wasting such a great natural resource is criminal!"

"No way," Tuck responded. "Who cares? Doesn't that water just go down the drain and back into the water supply?"

"Well, I suppose that it does get back into the system eventually," said Tim. "But we don't have an endless supply of good water. Think about it. Even though the oceans are filled with water, we can't drink it or use it for irrigation unless we take the salt out of it. We really have to think about how far we have to stretch the good water we have."

"Like how?" Tuck asked.

"In California, it doesn't rain as much as it does in other parts of the United States. We have to depend on rain, melt water, and ground water to irrigate the crops we eat and the crops we sell all over the world. That's a pretty big order because California grows tons and tons of crops, such as lettuce, tomatoes, asparagus, garlic, oranges, grapes, rice, and hay."

"Veggies? I hate veggies. I'm a meat eater. You won't catch me eating a hay salad," Tuck retorted.

"Ha," Tim laughed. "What do you think cows eat and drink? Hay and water. Without hay and good water, cows couldn't live. That means no steak or milk for you, pal. And, by the way, we use water to produce electricity for homes and industry as well. California uses about 20,000 to 52,000 million gallons of water per day.

"Okay, you made your point," said Tuck. "But I still don't see how leaky faucets affect irrigation water."

"Well," Tim answered, "that wasted water gets taken out of the cycle for a while. In cities, it would have to go to a treatment plant before it could be used again. In the country, it would eventually percolate back down into ground water."

Tim continued, "We need water to be available all the time. A drought causes serious problems because the water supply doesn't get replenished. When we run out of good water, we are in trouble."

"So, are you going to get up and shut off that leaky faucet?" asked Tim.

"I guess so, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't miss a few of those 55 baths a year," said Tuck with a yawn.