Bucks County Water Supply – Jessica Moritz

1A – I am from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which happens to be right outside of Philadelphia.  Since I am so close to the city, I learned that our water supply is the same as Philadelphia’s.  Water is first collected from the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers.  From the Delaware River, the water goes to the Samuel S. Baxter Plant.  In this plant, debris is removed, sedimentation tanks get rid of scum and solids, and microbes are used to eliminate anything that is left over.  Chlorine is also used to disinfect treated water prior to being sent out.  The water from the Schuylkill River goes to a plant called the Belmont and Queen Lane Plant, however, none of this water is sent to Bucks County.  Combined, these two plants produce 546 million gallons of water per day!  However, only 35 million gallons of water from the Samuel S. Baxter Plant are sent to Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority.  From here, water is once again tested and then sent out to the community.  Once water leaves a residence or business, it is transferred via sewage pipes back to the Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority.

 

2/5/16

1B


ACTIVITY                                        GALLONS USED


Teeth Brushing (2 times)………………….2 (1 gallon/time)

Hand Washing (7 times)………………….7 (1 gallon/time)

Shower (10 mins)…………………………..50 (5 gallons/min)

Toilet Flushing (7 times)………………….21 (3 gallons/flush)

Drinking Water………………………………1/2 (64 ounces or about 10 glasses of water)

Dish Washing (by hand)………………….20 (2 gallons/min)

Food (pasta)………………………………….1

Total……………………………………………101.5 Gallons

 

2/6/16

1C – Considering I used over 100 gallons in one day, only using 2 gallons was completely different.  First off, I only drink water so I realized that needed to be a priority on my list.  Since I only had a certain about of water designated for drinking, I drank less, which in return made me flush the toilet less.  Since cleanliness was the next priority on my list, I took a quick shower instead of a 10 minute one. I also turned the water off while I was lathering on soap and shampoo; this way, the only time the water was on was to quickly get wet and to rinse off at the end.  I feel like this still probably took up most of my 2 gallon limit even though I was careful about not having the water on too long.  When I brushed my teeth, I turned off the water while brushing.  Next, I didn’t use the dishwasher or washer to save on water.  When I washed my breakfast and dinner dishes, I had the water very low and turned it off while I was scrubbing everything.  This experiment was a fail because I know I used more than 2 gallons of water, even though I really tried not to.  Water relates back to geography because as Figures 4.2 and 4.3 show, not all countries have equal access to water.  We are lucky to have an unlimited supply of water but other places, like Haiti, has a very limited amount.

One thought on “Bucks County Water Supply – Jessica Moritz

  1. Hello Jessica my name is Lucas Skiba and I’m from State College, Pennsylvania. I was really interested in the conclusion you had for the 2 gallon challenge. You knew you were gonna fail because you knew that it would be nearly impossible to cut back from 100 gallons to 2 gallons. But I agree with when you said places like Haiti and other foreign countries don’t have the water supply that we do. Its very important people realize this cause we are lucky to have such well maintained water systems. Thanks.
    http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/02/08/module-4-lucas-skiba-ljs5300/?preview_id=43704&preview_nonce=513383bda2&post_format=standard&preview=true

Leave a Reply