Part 1-a.

In my hometown of Elkland, PA the water supply system is very easy to trace. I interviewed my roommate’s father who works for the Elkland Borough. He explained to me in detail how the water supply system works in Elkland. First, there are two wells located in a field behind a hardware store in town. Water is fed into these wells from a water vein that flows from Seneca Lake in New York state. Once the water enters the wells it is then transferred to the water treatment plant located in the same field as the water wells. Only one well is used at a time in Elkland. This is so that the other well can serve as a backup in case the other well fails. In the water treatment plant the water is treated with a chemical named Alkamax to reduce the level of alkaline in the water that is natural. From the water treatment plant the water is pumped to a reservoir located on a hill just outside of town. At the reservoir the water is stored and used as needed. The water flows form the reservoir via gravity to the houses and businesses in town for use in sinks, toilets and anything else that uses water. After the water is used it is drained from the houses or businesses into the sewer line in Elkland. The water travels to a sewage treatment plant outside of town where it is cleaned and purified and then released into the Cowanesque River.

Part 1-b.

I used a tool from the USGS called WECalc to estimate the amount of water I use in a single day at home. Below are my results:

• On average my household uses approximately 120 gallons of water
• This is an average of about 38 gallons per person for 3 people
• 46 gallons of this daily water usage is hot water.
• The top chart shows the water usage for specific activities such as toilet use and shower use.
• The bottom chart shows the percentage of water used in specific activities

Charts courtesy of: http://wecalc.org/calc/#

Part 1-c.

One of the most challenging things for me would be to live off of just 2 gallons of water a day. To begin I will analyze the areas where I use water on a daily basis. As a college student I use less water than someone who lives at home a full time. I use water for cooking, washing dishes, flushing the toilet, brushing my teeth, showering, washing my hands and drinking. I imagine this alone is around 40 gallons a day on average. For this experiment of using on 2 gallons of water a day I would have to prioritize the use of my water. First I would need to use water for cooking and drinking mainly. These are the two most important things for survival. I would prioritize cleaning myself last.  Overall I was unable to conserve my water consumption to 2 gallons of use. I did cut out a shower just for the day to conserve most of my water consumption. However, I found my self automatically flushing the toilet every time I used it without realizing. I did not cook anything with water and instead ate sandwiches for food for the day so that I wouldn’t have to cook with water. I did use more than two gallons of water to wash dishes that my roommates and I needed to eat subs for dinner. I think I also drank almost a gallon or a gallon and a half of water in one day as well. I also used water when I washed my hands after using the bathroom. I figured going a day without a shower would save a lot of water which is an example of an individual action to try and change my water use footprint for a day. A small scale collective action was implemented when my roommates agreed to cut out using water for cooking dinner for the day I conducted this experiment. This experiment is vastly different than my typical day as I usually shower and cook using a lot of water. I also tend to wash more dishes at a time than just a few plates like I did for this experiment. It is safe to say that I failed this experiment as I just couldn’t kick the habit of flushing and washing my hands. Geography is largely influential on water use. The location of a town or country can determine how much water can be used. For example, the United States uses a lot of water because there is a lot of fresh water inland. In countries like Hati there is not much fresh water inland and so there has to be restrictions on the use of water. Also the area around places that use water can influence where the used water is treated and then released. The individual and collective actions taken by people in a geographical area also strongly influences the amount of water used.