The water supply in Rochester Pennsylvania begins its journey in the Beaver River. A dam collects water for two water treatment plants owned by the Beaver Falls Municipal Authority. These two plants are both conventional rapid sand mixed media filtration plants. The river has always been readily available allowing the Beaver Falls Municipal Authority to produce up to 8.5 million gallons of water per day for the local communities. After the water complies with the appropriate protocols it is then dispersed through piping systems to the neighboring communities, including Rochester. Upon usage at our home the water then follows home drains to the sewer, which travels a short distance to the Rochester Township Water Treatment Facility. There are a total of three water treatment facilities in Rochester for each of the respective neighborhoods, Rochester Borough, East Rochester, and Rochester Township. These facilities go through a similar process as the two Beaver Falls facilities in order to filter the bacteria and waste out of the water before releasing it back into the Beaver River.

Water Consumption on Sunday February 7, 2016

My attempt to live on two gallons of water in one day proved unsuccessful. Due to a daily routine that my body is synchronized to a morning shower and restroom use were all it took to surpass that 2 gallons. I tried to cut my shower time down by not running the water before I got in and also by running cooler water in order to decrease my likelihood of standing around long. My three minute shower produced 15 gallons of water ending my hopes of living a day on two gallons. I put personal hygiene above all else on my priority list, which limited my water usage the remainder of the day. I still wanted to challenge myself to use less water so I did not run my dishwasher or make coffee today. I also only drank one bottle of water. Geography plays a large role in water use because if there isn’t a consistent body or flow of water nearby you are going to have to ration your consumption. In areas where water is readily available it leads us to collectively be selfish with our water consumption. Individual action in limiting water consumption can be a small step towards preventing scarce water supply but ultimately for the future generations to have clean and readily available water a greater collective action must be sought out.