Module 4-Individual and collective action

1a) Prior to coming up to state college I resided in good old Bucks County, PA. More specifically I lived in Doylestown Pennsylvania. At my house I have a source of water that comes form the township itself rather than from a well. This water originates from the water and sewage treatment facility owned by Borough Water Department. The water from facilities of these which can be found in New Britain, Buckingham, Doylestown, Warrington and Plumstead all provide water for homes though a rather complex system of pipes. Following the daily use of water by a majority of the newer houses in these boroughs, the water is then drained into a sewer system. This sewer system is owned, regulated and controlled by Bucks County Water and Sewer Company (BCWSA). Once the water reaches its “final” destination at the sewage treatment center it is then purified and a majority is reused thus encouraging and taking a part in the movement for more sustainability. In theses townships and residing neighborhoods the water and sewage are both billed separately based off of the amount used.

1b) Calculated results

1c)Screen Shot 2016-02-10 at 8.29.34 PMIf I were to live in an area where the daily use of water is restricted to 2 gallons of water I would have to change my lifestyle tremendously. I would have to lower water usage for all things like cooking, drinking, showering, bathroom use and maybe even cut things out like dishwasher and washing machine use. I would do this by cooking meals that needed little amounts of water and then take a quick shower and finally drink what whatever was left. I would use plastic and paper plates and utensils so that I didn’t have to wash them. I would also use a shower with a smaller water flow so that less water is wasted in a quicker amount of time. Based off of this experiment and he amount of water that my family uses per day me and my family would all definitely fail. Our Usage is almost 100 times more than two gallons and I also just believe that we have too big of a family to survive off of that. Lastly geography matters to water usage because of places like developing countries who are limited to clean drinking water. Unlike where I am from they do not have a constant supply of large amounts of water.

4 thoughts on “Module 4-Individual and collective action

  1. Hi Ben! I’m a sophomore. We have similar water systems of our hometowns. In my hometown we also get our water from a main source instead of a well. I found it interesting that lawn watering was a part of your recently used water activity, as well as other outdoor uses even in the winter time. I would most likely end up failing the experiment too because we’re so used to using a tremendous amount of water.
    If you want to read my blog here’s the link http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/10/water-and-its-overconsumption/

  2. Hey Ben, I’m Peter and I’m a student at Penn State, University Park. You are absolutely right by saying developing countries don’t have access to water like we do so they can’t overuse it. We are lucky that we are able to overuse our water, especially in cases of disasters for relief. Over the summer, somebody set Simmons Hall on fire, and we live in a country lucky enough to have easy access to water in order to quickly put it out before too much damage could be done. I really like your idea of plastic and paper utensils and dishes to reduce water usage, which hopefully would be recycled, thus further helping the environment and working towards sustainability.

    Here is a link to my blog: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/10/peter-han-module-4/

    – Peter

  3. Hi Ben, my name is Kristin and I am a senior studying early education. Your post stuck out to me because I too am from Doylestown, PA! All though since my house is an older home in Buckingham we get our water from our own well, rather than from the Borough Water Department like you do. I also found that my family and I used a tremendous amount of water! Just in one day I calculated that I used around 74 gallons and I think I definitely underestimated. At home I have 7 people in my family so my household numbers probably would look around the same as yours! I found this activity to be very eye opening, I never knew I used up so much water. I think its important that we try to do little things like turning off the water when brushing our teeth to try to make a positive impact on the environment.
    If you want to check out my post here is the link:
    https://wp.me/p3RCAy-bo4

  4. Hey Benjamin, my name is Katelyn. The link to my blog is http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/02/10/water-tracking-usage-3/

    I agree that I would have to change my life style tremendously in order to live in an area with restricted water usage. I would find it very hard to cut back on showering, cooking, and drinking water. I did not think of using plastic plates and utensils. I think that is a great idea to cut back on water usage. My family and I would all fail at only using two gallons of water per day considering there is five of us living in one house. I thought your blog was very interesting to read!

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