In my hometown of Allentown, Pennsylvania, around 18 million gallons per day is sourced from Little Lehigh Creek, Lehigh River, Crystal Spring, and/or Schantz Spring. From there, the water is treated at the LCA Wastewater Treatment Plant. Next, the water is filtered at the LCA Water Filtration Plant. The process so far consists of coagulation (thickening the liquid) and flocculation (separating solid particles from a liquid), settling, filtration, and chemical addition. For example, chlorine is used to kill bacteria while corrosion-control treatment is to assure the control of the pH levels. Another addition is fluoride (0.6 parts per million). The water remains in the same area, but in a different building, the LCA Water Distribution and Sewer Collection Systems. This is where the water leaves to get to our taps, and also comes back to from our taps. This system is controlled by the Lehigh County Authority, more specifically the Allentown Division. In fact, these plants are all located within Allentown.
My use of water is through hygiene and dietary needs. Having to live on two gallons per day, my priorities were cooking, drinking, brushing my teeth. This totals below my maximum, but the experiment failed. This was because, in reality, showering, although not a priority, was a must, which adds 30 gallons alone. Therefore, I’d have to reduce showers to maybe a couple times a week or less, but this wasn’t possible for me. Still, I took a shorter shower, and only used water to rinse my mouth and not before to wet the toothbrush. I used less dishes while cooking and eating. The main trouble, comparing to the chart, was the shower and toilet flush, which I wasn’t able to improve.
Geography matters for water use. For example, a hotter area will require more drinking water. The difficulty in attaining water or available supply can affect water use too. The quality of the water can be a factor as can the ease of living in a certain area (due to weather, landscape). The harder it is to get water, the worse the water pollution, or the less demographics in an area, can mean less water use and vice versa.
Again the water supply system as discussed in this blog post is a lot more modern and i guess powerful than what we get in India. The water intake is also just over half of what I used, which goes to show this person tends to use a lot less water than what I do. However for the last question I guess not many people were successful, which is where I see similarities to my blog post.
Hi my name is Lisa! First off, my grandma is from Allentown so when you are talking about places like Little Leigh Creek and Leigh River I know exactly where you’re talking about which is awesome! When reading over you water experiment with only two gallons, I feel like we struggled with the same exact things. I had a difficult time cutting out a shower as well because I thought it was necessary but it uses so much water! I just really do not know how people can do it with only two gallons a day. I really enjoyed reading your response! Here’s a link to mine! http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/10/module-4-water/