Part 1-A
Hello. My name is Shanda Snyder, and I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In terms of water, my home gets water from the services of the Pennsylvania Water & Sewage Authority. Currently, 70 million gallons of water are treated each day at our drinking water treatment plant. The PWSA gets its water from Allegheny River, with no ground or well water being used. The water goes through a series of treatments which take a full 3 days to complete. The first stage is called the “Clarification” Stage. During this stage, land particles like clay and slit are removed. Then, an addition of treatments are added to make the rest of the “bad stuff” sink. During this phase, they also carbon is also added to the water to improve the taste. Secondly, the next stage is the “Filtration” Process. This process involves the water moving rather slowly through a combination of filters like coal, sand, and gravel to remove the rest of the particles and unwanted microorganisms. The last step in the treatment process is the “Disinfection” stage. This last stage is crucial, involving the use of chlorine to remove any harmful bacteria and microorganisms. Then, more chemicals are added in order to finish the treatment. The pH of the water and fluoride are adjusted. From there, the water is then clean enough to go through the pipes in the comfort of my own home.
Part 1-B
From both of the water consumption websites, it looks like I use around 209.3 gallons per day, on average.
Part 1-C
Based on the data, it looks like the majority of my water use is due to my lengthy showers. Because I am also a dancer, I usually shower after practice. Not only do I get clean, but it helps my muscles out. From 209 gallons to only 2 gallons in one day?! I was nervous. But, I chose Monday, February 8, 2016 to cut down on my water. I knew I was going to have to make major adjustments, so I prioritized hygiene/personal maintenance and cooking. I took a really quick 4 minute shower in the morning, turned the water off before I brushed my teeth, didn’t brush my teeth at night, made dinner and let the dishes pile up, and I also tried to not flush the toilet as much. I hate doing that, it really freaks me out, but I knew that that was a significant way to cut down on my water usage. I also washed my hands really fast, and used hand sanitizer as well. Despite cutting down on everything, I still went over the 2 gallon limit by a significant amount. It was a complete fail, and I admire anyone who was able to complete the task! This type of experience just shows that I do not think about my overconsumption of water as much as I should. I really do take advantage of just showering because I’m bored or running the dishwasher when it isn’t all the way full. I think geography ties to water usage because generally on the East Coast, we aren’t told much about water usage. On the West Coast, you are told about water usage a lot and encouraged to monitor it due to the weather and severe drought that can occur. Geographically, in places that are near a lot of water, I would imagine more would be used only because it is easier to get to.
Hello, my name is Brenton. I enjoyed your post because it detailed the fact that many people take more than one shower or bath a day. I take a shower when I wake up and again after I run or go to the gym. In another reply, I was surprised that in most of the postings the average shower use was three times the national average. Taking multiple showers could explain this. However, my first shower of the day is a little longer than one after a run. As you detailed, it is not hard to take a quick shower and be thorough.
Here is a link to my post: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/08/module-4-brenton-mcdonald/
Hi Shanda! This is my blog https://sites.psu.edu/geog30/wp-admin/post.php?post=44076&action=edit !
I thought your post was really interesting because when I started reading your part about cutting back to only 2 gallons a day it seemed as though you did some major cut backs to make this happen. Also, I liked you how mentioned you were a dancer and showers are important to your daily routine. For me, I like to workout at night, but taking a shower in the morning to wake me up for the day is also something I do regularly. My main priority was to cut back on showers as well because I use at least 40 gallons of water to shower.
Hi my name is Ashlee, I was scrolling through the comments trying to find someone I could relate to using a large amount of water throughout the day and at first I thought it was relatively high and was a little embarrassed but I’m glad I finally found someone close to my usage. Being athletic/active is definitely a challenge when it comes to water, I work hard each day and am active in the evenings and I also find showers help my muscles relax which is half the reason my time in the shower is so long. With such a lifestyle its hard to cut down your usage to 2 gallons and I ultimately failed as well. I have definitely taken water for granted. Here’s a link to my blog if you’d like to check it out. http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/02/10/module-4-5/
Hey Shanda,
Your post caught my attention for one major reason, you and I both used around 200 gallons of water a day and we were pretty nervous about going down to only 2 gallons of water for a day. I also failed at completing the 2 gallon challenge, but don’t think of yourself as a failure! You still cut back a lot compared to before, and that’s something to be proud of! I like it how you compared our geographically location to just here in the US rather than worldwide. It never occurred to me that people on the West Coast are raised to be aware of their water usage, while people on the East Coast rarely hear about it. That was a really good point.
My blog post is located here: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/10/module-4-katie-greiner/
Hey Shanda! My name is Katy. Your blog caught my eye since we own hometowns are the same, Pittsburgh. I found it a little unsettling that my drinking water come from Allegheny River. I am sure you can agree on this when you found out. Furthermore, we both use a lot more water than most of the students in the class due to our showers. I failed at the experiment to only use 2 gallons of water as well. Please read my blog at https://wp.me/p3RCAy-bn3