1a: I live in Warrington, Pennsylvania and my water supply at home is from a well. The average annual rainfall is 44 inches and annual snow is 27 inches. This water from the rain and snow then goes into our well which is about 100 feet underground. Water goes from the well to a holding pressure tank in my basement then to the water softener where it removes calcium and magnesium hence making the water soft. The water travels throughout my house to multiple locations such as toilets, tubs, sinks, the washer, fridge, outside spigots and even our heater when we have to heat the house. When I use the water out of the faucets it is already purified and ready to use. Water then goes down the drain to the sewer then finally to the municipal building. This is always an ongoing process and we have never had issues about whether or not there is enough water in our well.
1b:
| Activity | Amount of Water Used |
| Brush Teeth (x2) | 2 gallons |
| Toilet (x5) | 15 gallons |
| Refill Water Bottle (x3) | .5 gallons |
| Shower | 55 gallons |
| Wash Face/Hands | 10 gallon |
| Wash Dishes | 15 gallons |
| Laundry (Washer: 4 loads) | 120 gallons |
| Total: | 217.5 gallons |
1c: After seeing how much water I use, living on two gallons a day would be very challenging. I would have to shower every few days instead of every day because on the days that I would shower, I would have less water for other activities like drinking and cooking. My main water usage would be for drinking but I would have to cut down on what I typically drink now. Food is also essential for life so I would need to allocate a certain portion of water to be used in cooking every day. I could also change up what I would cook and see what foods require more water than others and this would allow me to use water for different activities. The day I did my log was my laundry day so that’s part of the reason my total is so high. I realize now that I would have two options with my laundry. The first one would be to do a very small amount of laundry every day but I would only be able to wash maybe one piece of clothing max. Option two would be to do all of my laundry on one day but that would most likely be my only water usage activity that day. It’s hard to see where I should use my water because I have so little available to me. I wouldn’t want to use more than I have because I would be taking water from other people around me which isn’t fair.
It is strange having such an abundance of water coming from wells in rural PA. We have a sustainable supply of water in our areas. Does that mean it is ok to use 200 gallons a day like we do? I know in my case that there is plenty of water in our aquifers and it is replenished very frequently. It still makes me feel guilty that this is the case. Check out my post: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/10/water-usage/#respond
Hello, my name is Brenton. I enjoyed reading your post but one thing stood out to me, as it did with many other posts. The amount of water students in the course used when taking a shower is surprising. A typical person in the U.S. uses an average of 17.2 gallons of water when taking a shower that lasts approximately 8.5 minutes. Having been in the military, my average is about half of the national average, as we needed to take quick showers due to time or resources. Many of the posting this week claimed use of around 50 gallons. I am a little interested to know why shower use for our class would be triple the national average.
Here is a link to my post: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/08/module-4-brenton-mcdonald/