What is the number one crisis the world faces? It’s not global warming. It’s not AIDS/HIV. It’s not even December 21, 2012. It’s something quite simpler.

It is water, or lack thereof. The world is currently suffering from a water shortage crisis.

But this one little faucet could immediately change everything. It’s called the Smart Faucet.

It doesn’t do anything mind blowing, but what it does do is truly smart: in order to operate the water faucet, you must depress a lever that opens the water flow. The interesting part is that the user must hold this lever down to have the water flow, meaning that a user will be actively aware of the water being used at all times.

Think of it like the water faucets that automatically turn on when you place your hands under them in malls and movie theaters: it is a similar concept, the only difference being that you need to take some action to get the water flowing.

With estimates that around 80 to 90 percent of all water that the typical person using from their faucet is going unused and wasted — adding up to over 5,000 gallons per year — the Smart Faucet could be a huge change and would, without question, cut down significantly on waste.

Just imagine if every business had these installed in their bathrooms instead of traditional faucets: that is huge savings alone.

And while we don’t expect anyone to rush out and buy one of these, it certainly would be admirable to see these in more businesses and even homes.

[via The Design Blog]