My family has a well as our system for water. The well is dug into the ground with a cleaning and pump system that allows for the water to be cleaned and pumped in the house. Rain and groundwater is our main source of water. We live on the side of a hill so as the water flows down towards the creek it fills the well and restores our water supply. Our waste water then goes down the drain and flows into our septic tank. Here the water separates into three layers that includes a bottom layer of sludge, middle layer of water and a top layer of scum. The septic tank then releases the clean layer of water back into the ground.
Water Usage for One Day
2 showers: 25 gallons
Brushing teeth 3x a day: 1/2 gallon
Dishes: 3 gallons
3 bottles of water: 1/2 gallon
Washing hands 9x: 3.5 gallons
Flushing Toilet 7x: 6 gallons
For my experiment I tried to cut back the amount of water I used in the shower, flushing the toilet, doing the dishes, and brushing my teeth. The amount of water I drank, and used to wash my hands were kept at about the same, due to simply needed to stay hydrated and to avoid getting sick. Instead if taking two showers today I only took one in the morning and skipped my shower before bed. I also only did the dishes once rather than multiple times through out the day and instead of leaving the water running I filled the sink only half way full and rinsed multiple dishes at the same time. While brushing my teeth instead of wetting my tooth brush before and after I add the tooth paste i just put the tooth paste on and only used water to rinse my brush off at the end. My personal experience of living on only two gallons of water was a complete fail. My only shower for the day even if it was shorter than my normal showers and only once a day instead of twice still used most of my allotted two gallons. This experiment made me feel more self conscious about the amount of water I was using. In the part of tracking I did not really think about how much I used, because it felt normal until I realized how wasteful I was like I did in this experiment. Geography plays a role in water usage, because if you live in an area where clean water is easily accessible you will use it, but if you live in an area without clean water you wont use it as much.
Hi Mary, My name is Tyler and I am a senior at Penn State Main. I noticed that we live with a similar water supply since we both have well water and we both live on hills which helps replenish the well. I think it’s really interesting how taking showers can distort the numbers so much when talking about numbers of gallons. It is really unfortunate that something we find normal and necessary in America uses so much water. I can’t even think about using only 2 gallons of water per day everyday like in 3rd world countries. We definitely take our water usage for granted.
Check out my blog post: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/10/mod-4-money-usage-tyler-brackbill/
Hi Mary, I think it is interesting that your family has a septic tank at your house. I feel like this would inspire me to use less water, since I know there is a limited supply. In my blog post, ( http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/02/10/water-tracking-usage-alex-deebel/) I talked about the water supply chain is Harrisburg, as it is sourced from the Susquehanna river. I also tried to reuse the water I used to was dishes, and it is not critical that it is fresh water every time. I found it hard to complete the 2 gallon challenge because of showering and flushing the toilet too.
Hi Mary, my name is Katherine and I am a junior at Penn State. I was interested in your water supply chain process for your hometown because you went into great detail of how the water comes from source to tap. In terms of daily water usage, we both use water for the same activities, but different amounts. Our daily water usage differs by about 2/3 of your total daily gallons of water. However, I agree that to live on just two gallons of water a day, would be very difficult to get by. Not only do we each consume water every day to stay hydrated, but maintaining hygiene, health, and cleanliness is also very important. In conclusion, I also agree that the experiment enabled us both to become aware of the amount of water we waste each day.
Here is a link to my blog:
http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/09/katherine-rigotti-module-4/