Instructions: Pour water in a bucket, put ice in water, and proceed to dump on head

Scroll through your news feed, and you see numerous challenge videos and nominations.

We have all either done or seen this challenge.  Yet, as I scroll through Facebook, I see numerous complaints on how it wastes water. So I decided to dig a little deeper and see just how the harms of the challenge compare to the benefits.

People seemed to forget that the main purpose of the challenge was to raise awareness about ALS, and that's exactly what it did.  Charlie Sheen, Dan Bilzerian, Leo DiCaprio, and my favorite, with the utmost class Sir Patrick Stewart, were only a few of the celebrities who completed the challenge.  

Without the challenge, none of these celebrities would have donated. Most of these celebrities each donated nearly $10,000 to the ALS foundation. So, let's just say, for example there were roughly 200 celebrities who donated $10,000 - which, for them, is pocket change - we'd reach $2 million total. 

How much water was wasted? About 5 million gallons, and possibly rising. WOW. Put in perspective though, think about how much water we waste on a daily basis. California's Department of Water Resources information officer Doug Carlson has stated, "people waste more water [than the 5 million gallons] needlessly watering their lawns." And that's only in California. In New York, the city's residents alone use about 1 billion gallons of drinking water a day.

So here are the facts.

The ALS ice bucket challenge has raised over $100 million just this past month.  During the same period last year, it only raised about $2.7 million.  Did it achieve its original purpose to bring awareness? The numbers don't lie.

In California alone, the challenge used 5 million gallons, but this is nothing compared to the amount of daily individual waste: from taking long showers, watering the lawn, leaving the faucet on while brushing your teeth, to all the possible ways water is utilized in agricultural production. People need to realize that this challenge is simply a fad. Fads tend to die out, which would result in less wastage. But still, water will be wasted everyday from our personal use.  Educate yourself and try to save water in your personal life rather than blaming a fad for our drought.