1a) The water supply chain for my hometown is a service called Aqua PA, which is the largest service area in population and number of service connections. Water is withdrawn from the Schuykill River and Perkiomen Creek, which is local to my area. I acquired this information by contacting my local township office, who of which were to gladly tell me about how the water is pumped from its source of the Schuykill River and then distributed throughout the numerous areas around Philadelphia.
1B) Daily Water Use: Sunday, February 7, 2016
|
Activity |
Number of times performed |
Water Usage |
|
Brushing Teeth |
2 |
.5 gallon |
|
Dishwashing by Hand |
1 |
5 gallons |
|
Washing face |
2 |
.3 gallon |
|
Shower (8 minutes) |
1 |
40 gallons |
|
Water drank |
6 |
.375 gallons |
|
Washing hands |
12 |
1 gallon |
|
Flushing toilet |
10 |
3 gallons |
1C) To live on two gallons of water a day:
In order to mock that experience of living on two gallons of water for one day, I attempted to drastically cut back my water use. To do this, I had to completely cut out taking a shower, because a typical shower of mine used a whopping 40 gallons of water. I attempted to use the least amount of water possible when washing my hands and when brushing my teeth and face by not letting the faucet run when I wasn’t using it. It was tough to cut back water when flushing the toilet, because in college, it is necessary to flush the toilet in public restrooms. If I had been in my own house, I could’ve waited to flush the toilet until after a few uses. In order to stay hydrated for physical activities, I did not cut back from the amount of water I usually consume. This experience opened my eyes to how much water I really do consume, which definitely surpassed one gallon in the one day. Geography affects water use because as seen in maps in Module 4, certain areas of the world have a significantly lesser amount of freshwater available to them.
Hi Lizzie! Thanks for the comment, I really appreciated your feedback! Here’s the link to my blog in case you need to remember what I said: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/09/water-source-and-supply-kyle-hoke/
I think it’s a pretty funny coincidence that your town is called Aqua and you had to trace the water sources! It’s surprising that most water sources are from major waterways that you wouldn’t originally think are suitable for drinking! That’s where the treatment and filtration plants come in. When trying to cut down to just 2 gallons of water I agree that it is almost impossible to cut down on the water we use for hygiene. I like that you mention we must flush public toilets, because that just draws attention to the geographical differences. In areas without plentiful water resources, they may not have public restrooms that are “wasteful” with water.
Hello Elizabeth, I liked your post, the part that interest me was how you decided to completely cut out taking a shower. I do not think I would be able to go a day without a shower. I also was not able to last on two gallons of water a day. I also did not let the faucet run when brushing my teeth, it is a good start at conserving water. I forgot to mention the maps in this module, on how they highlight the areas where freshwater is available and water use around the world. Here is a link to my blog post: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/09/module-4-water-tracking-usage/