1A) Leesburg, Virginia is home to about 40,000 people, which is considerably big. The Potomac River is the main source of water for that area. The Broad Run Water Reclamation Facility (BRWRF) is an 11 million gallons per day reclamation facility that takes water from the Potomac and purifies it for household use. BRWRF is required to uphold state regulations due the fact that the water supply is from an upstream river. The facility must have a certain total of nitrogen demands, phosphorus demands, Kjeldahl Nitrogen demands and chemical oxygen demand limit. According to Loudoun.org BRWRF uses a series of technology as a standard precaution for environmental safety and water retrieval. They use a technology such as grit removal, primary clarification, fine screening, flow equalization etc. This process allows filtration and distribution among households and residences. Once this water leaves our houses it is transported into a septic tank, where it holds the all of the sewage under ground. This sewage is then transported back to Ashburn, Virginia where it is treated and recycled all over again into filtered water at the Broad Run Water Reclamation Facility.
1B) Activity Conducted: 2/9/16
ACTIVITY GALLONS OF WATER
Shower 5-gallons’ x 10 min = 50
Teeth Brushing 1-gallon x 2 min = 2
Hands/Face Washing 1 gallon
Leg Shaving 1 gallon
Dishwashing by hand 2-gallons’ x 3 min = 6
Clothes washer 25-gallons’ x 1 load = 25
Toilet flush 3-gallons’ x 5 times = 15
Glasses of water 1 gallon
Total: 95 Gallons
1C) When having a restriction of only using 2 gallons of water it really puts your life into perspective. This 2-gallon challenge did not go as planned as it was unsuccessful from very early on. I am big on cleanliness, therefore I usually take a shower every morning, however with this experiment my main priority was to give up a shower for a day. This being said I was able to focus on using those 2 gallons in a more useful way (saving approximately 50 gallons of water from not showering). Based on the chart created in Part 1-b I also use a lot of water when dishwashing by hand, therefore I decided to use paper plates, that way I could recycle them rather than wasting the water. Geography matters to water use because in certain areas of the world, such as North America, it is easy to use the water supply as if it will never run out. However, for the average person in Haiti and Mozambique 2 gallons of water must be carefully planned out on how much and where to use this water supply. We as a society tend to take this luxury as an advantage, which was brought to light through this experiment.
Sources for Part 1A: http://www.loudounwater.org/Residential-Customers/Water-Reclamation/