1-a
My hometown is the city of Greensburg in western Pennsylvania. Greensburg falls under the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County, which supplies water from five separate water plants to various areas. The Greensburg water supply comes from the Indian Creek Water Plant via the Youghiogheny River. Specifically, the source water comes from the surface of Indian Creek. The intake locations for this water plant are located in Dunbar Township and Fayette County. This water is processed at the plant and follows a series of pipes to the tap at my home. Treatment capacity is approximately 45 million gallons per day and the water plant had an average production of 22.7 million gallons a day in 2010. The water plant performs a collective action by switching disinfectants from Chloramines to Free Chlorine each year for a few months. This is done in order to maintain bacteriological quality of the water. In addition, the sewage for my city is handled by the Greater Greensburg Sewage authority.
1-b
Water Usage February 6, 2016
Activity/Gallon
Shower: 17
Dishes: 2
Consumption: 1
Toilet x 3: 9
Brushing teeth x 2: ½
Total: 29 ½
1-c
I first looked at my most costly actions from the previous day. The activities that stood out were showering, dishes and toilet use. I cut out the first two activities by doing both the day before. I cut down my toilet use by eating and drinking little. I only used the toilet once during this time and held off on flushing until the experiment was over. My priorities for water use were brushing my teeth and drinking enough water to stay moderately hydrated. The strategy I employed was performing the most costly actions the day before and cutting down on what I considered necessities. I was able to succeed in my goal but I had to plan out my activities the previous day. This experienced opened my eyes to how much I take water for granted and the difference individual action can make. In terms of water use, geography means a great deal. While infrastructure can help, even areas in the U.S. deal with shortages. Without infrastructure, the process of getting water can consume the population. When living in Kenya and visiting different areas, some women would have to walk 20 miles to retrieve water for the day.
Hi, Brandon! I am Ben, here is a link to my blog, if you are interested https://sites.psu.edu/geog30/?p=43681&preview=true.
I was interested to see that your daily average water usage was lower than most of our classmates. Good for you. Proximity to water is definitely a huge contributing factor in your water usage. I could not imagine having to walk 20 mile a day to obtain water. That thought alone really helps to illustrate how important and precious a resource like water truly is.
Hello Brandon, my name is Samantha. For part A i noticed we have a similar water supply chain. Both of the water supply in our towns originate from a lake that gets purified by a water plant and gets distributed to homes throughout piping systems. For part B i realized we do the same daily activities such as showering, brushing teeth, drinking, and flushing the toilet, although we have different calculations based on the amount of water we used. I liked how for part c u thought ahead and accomplished 2 activities the day before rather than not doing them at all. That was smart and very helpful.
A link to my blog is here! http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/02/08/module-4/