The water supply for my hometown of Wyomissing, PA, comes from Lake Ontelaunee, located just to the northeast of the city. Lake Ontelaunee is fed by Maiden Creek, of which the creeks forms from spring water runoff from the mountains and hilly terrain in the vicinity. From the creek, it enters the Schuylkill River. The water is then pumped into one of many water treatment facilities throughout the Reading area. It is then pumped with ozone (O₃) as the ozone will remove any fine particulates in the water. Thereafter, the water is coagulated and fluoridated (fluoridation of water is a controlled addition of fluoride to the water supply to reduce decay of teeth; another aspect of public health). After the water goes through rigorous filtering processes to reduce sediment concentration, it enters corrosion filters to remove harmful substances, and a balance of the pH also occurs. Before being sent out to neighborhood water towers, slight additives chlorine (Cl) are added to clean the water once and for all. It then heads to homes and/or water towers and is ready for use. After the water is consumed, it heads toward a refinery plant located on the south side of Reading. The storm and waste water is then treated and dumped into the Schuylkill River. There has been some problems recently with the dumping of the treated water in the Schuylkill as the treated water is warmer than the water in the river, harming wildlife.

Throughout the day, Monday, February 8th, I used quite a bit of water that was already stored (bottled water). Though, having just getting over a very bad illness, I washed my hands practically every hour throughout the day Monday. I consumed four bottles of water, or four pints which is equivalent to a half gallon of water. Now, I am uncertain as to how many gallons per minute the showers in the dorm pump out, but I took a steaming hot shower for about 20 minutes last night. Perhaps there was well over 100 gallons of water usage from that shower alone. I draw that conclusion because the average house sink pumps out roughly two gallons per minute. As per taking care of business in the restroom, I think about 6 gallons of water were used as the bathroom systems are pretty conservative on campus (again, the university does fairly well with water conservation for their sink and bathroom systems). My overall water consumption ended up being about 30 gallons less than the average family household — my 20 minute shower hiked up the water usage exponentially. Otherwise, the rest of the usage was on a minimal usage amount.

If I was limited to only two gallons of water for one day, I would assume conditions were perhaps on the extreme level. I would keep a full gallon of water for consumption; no less than 0.75 gallons as the human body can burn through liters of water on the order of hours depending on the conditions outside. The other 1 to 1.25 gallons of water would be used to cook food. A small portion would be kept to boil food, if needed, and to clean myself up after cooking. If it came down to it, I would not bathe if things were extreme enough as dumping water on myself so I can feel “clean” is not the best way to use water. If it were hot, I would actually wet my clothing with it, particularly around my core and head to keep my core temperature normal. A small portion, perhaps a pint if that, would be used. If the environment were cold, then that water to keep my core temperature down would be salvaged and used for more cooking, or cleaning of the catch of the day, etc. It is a pretty coarse situation when you have two gallons of water to deal with. It can really put into perspective just how much water we frequently use on a daily basis without thinking about it.