I live in a small town called Northern Cambria, PA. It was not until recently that my town had made the switch to become a public water system. Prior to this, most of the water supplied to houses were from different wells and springs from around the area. From the Northern Cambria Water Municipality Website, it is stated that there are multiple wells that are pumped into two different enclosed reservoirs. From these reservoirs, they are transported to a water treatment pump house. From here, it is pumped into the main lines of households and other community uses. After the water is drained from different households, it is sent to the sewage water treatment plant. Once the water is finished its treatment, it is funneled into the Susquehanna river watershed that flows through the town. This system, utilizing Greensand, is able to filter and treat up to 300,000 gallons per day.
| Activity | Gallons
|
| Shower | 25
|
| Hand Washing | 9 |
| Teeth Brushing | 1 |
| Dish Washing | 20 |
| Laundry | 25 |
| Toilet Flush
|
24 |
| Water Drinking | 1 |
| Total | 105 |
After I tracked my water usage on Monday, I decided to significantly reduce my water usage to two gallons for the experiment on Tuesday. I allocated 0.25 gallons of water to drinking since being hydrated is necessary, and the other 0.75 for food. I wanted to use the last gallon for personal hygiene uses such as brushing my teeth, washing my hands, and using a wet rag with soap in order to cleanse my body. My experiment ultimately failed whenever I had to use the urinal on campus. Since they automatically flush after each use, I ended up over using my prescribed use of two gallons of water per day. I was able to reduce my use of water to approximately 20 gallons, since I am forced to flush the toilet at my apartment due to my roommates. Geography is extremely important to water use because it plays a pivotal role in where and how water is obtained. From my hometown, we are lucky enough to have ground water and multiple wells where water can be obtained. Other places like California do not have this luxury. This is why I believe that new processes and ideas need to be implemented such as desalination of seawater so that water shortages will not occur in the future.
Hi Justin,
I enjoyed reading your post. My name is Laurene. You can access my blog post here: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/09/where-my-water-comes-from-and-how-much-i-use/
I am also from Pennsylvania and live along the Susquehanna, in New Columbia, Pa. Your water’s journey intrigued me because my home currently relies on a private well, but I have noticed that the municipal water supply is branching further and further to supply homes on the rural outskirts of my town. My father complains about possibly losing our well within the next few years as housing complexes get closer to our homes location. In my experiment, I also saw the dilemma of using public facilities, so I chose a Saturday where I stayed in my apartment. My roommates and I have individual bathrooms, so I did not need to flush. Using 20 gallons is still a challenge and more reasonable based on our geographic location. Great job! I am looking forward to cheap desalination technology to secure a sustainable water source for the future.
Hey Justin!
My name is Dorish and I’m currently a student at Penn State University Park studying aerospace engineering. From reading other posts here, I see that your town is similar in using wells as your water source as is my city. I actually thought your total was very low to begin with at 105 gallons a day compared to other numbers I saw on other posts, which is great! It’s great you were able to reduce your usage down to 20 gallons a day and am really glad you brought up how California does not have the same luxury that you have in New Jersey. I think its situations like the one in California that really open up people’s eyes to reality and the importance of something as simple as water. Great post!
Check out my blog if you can:
http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/09/water-trackage-and-usage/
– Dorish Nguyen