1-a.

In my hometown of East Brunswick, NJ the water all comes from the Middlesex Water Company. Since their are many towns in Middlesex their are different pumping stations which supply water to the surrounding areas. For my town its the Tices lane pumping station which also supply’s water to South River, Helmet, and Spotswood. At this pumping station The Water Production Division is in charge of making sure the water is safe to drink as well as that it meets the standards established by the New Jersey Department of environmental Protection. System operators for this station take periodic samples daily to monitor it and make sure it hits all the requirements. The Source of middlesex’s water supply come from the Hunterdon County and the Delaware and Rarity River Basin, which combined receive over 40 inches of rain per year which much of is held in reservoir storage. From here East Brunswick takes its portion of 100 million gallons of water per day transferring it into the Spruce Run and Round Valley Reservoirs. After being pumped and used in homes, businesses etc. the system collects and conveys wastewater through gravity and force mains to the Middlesex County Utilities Authority’s treatment facility in Sayreville, NJ, through three metered connection points that are continuously monitored for flow and various wastewater characteristics.

1-b.

1-c

For me being a college student I am able to ignore the water usages such as washing dishes or cooking because they are done for me. So for this experiment I decided to take my water usage down to just two things, drinking water and washing my face. Drinking water is the most essential thing since I work out physically like at the gym as well as many hours mentally on school work and it is important to stay hydrated. I chose the ! minute of face washing because I figured since showers use up such an obscene amount of water and I couldn’t even use one for 30 seconds, I would at least need to clean of somehow. While some strategies could use more efficient shower heads or energy efficient toilets I decided to take a realistic college student approach which is to just reduce consumption. This experiment compares to my 1-b experiment only because it opens my eyes up to how much water we actually use per day. Geography is a huge part of how much water is used and how. For my town which has an abundance of water even in case of extended drought periods I never really payed attention to my water consumption besides the cost aspect. However areas with common drought or distance from a good water source can seriously inhibit the amount of water able to be used as well as what it is used for.