1-a Since I live up in rural Pennsylvania my water comes from a drilled well. Our drilled well is 200 feet deep and the water comes from underground water into an aquifer. The water from the ground that comes from precipitation and runs off into the soil then become infiltrated eventually goes into the drilled well. From the well the water comes into our house and for each different activity we use water it goes down the drain into a septic tank. The septic tank holds the wastewater from the home until solid debris settles at the bottom of the tank and lighter waste, such as oil, rises to the top to form the scum layer. Between the two layers lies clarified liquid, which flows into an outlet pipe and is gradually dissipated through a drain. The water then goes into a sand mound or leach field where it becomes more purified. The water from there is either evaporated or becomes ground water. The ground water will eventually move into a nearby creek or river. The process will constantly repeat. Some issues that could occur can come from natural gas drilling or cow manure nearby. If either of these substances get mixed into the water and eventually end up in our well, it could pollute the water which could cause many problems, the biggest being no water use.

1-b

Activity                                      Water Used (gallons)

Brush Teeth                                     1/2 gallon

Shower (10 min.)                           50 gallons

Wash Hands (7x)                             7 gallons

Toilet flush (5x)                              15 gallons

Washed Clothes                              25 gallons

Wash Dishes (by hand)                   8 gallons

Drink                                               1 gallon

Total:                                           106.5 gallons        

1-c I thought I could try it out and go a day with only using 2 gallons of water. After a couple hours in I found it to be nearly impossible. I believe hydrating and keeping myself clean are the two most important activities when it comes to using water. In order to properly function throughout the day, I only focused on hydrating myself and staying clean. During my day, some approaches I used to cut down water footprint were shutting off the water while I was brushing my teeth, not washing my hair during my shower, avoiding cooking, washing dishes, and using the washing machine. I also drank less than normal so I wouldn’t have to use the toilet as much. Doing all of these activities still left me using way more than 2 gallons of water. I definitely used a lot less gallons than I did in 1-b, but way more than 2 gallons. I learned from this experiment that based on population and consumerism, geography affects water use significantly. Many countries do not have access to clean water like we do. As a result, they cannot afford to do all the activities that we can on a daily basis. They conserve their use of water and only use it for the necessities, such as drinking and eating. Everything else is not as important. It really opens up my eyes to see how lucky I really am to have constant running water.