1A:

My hometown is Bridgeport, PA. It is right outside of Philadelphia and in Montgomery County. There isn’t one specific water system that all of Bridgeport uses. My family specifically uses the Norristown System, which is a part of Pennsylvania American Water. It obtains its water from the Schuylkill River and serves multiple boroughs and townships, which include Norristown, Bridgeport, and Upper Merion. Despite most of the water coming from the river, .03 percent is purchased from a different water system, Aqua-Pennsylvania, and about .50 is purchased from North Wales Water Authority. The average amount of water supplied to customers on a daily basis is about 11 million gallons of water. It travels from the river to the treatment plant, then to the pipes to our home. After water usage, the water heads down the drain in the house and makes its way directly into waterways that are a source for public water systems, such as the Norristown System.

1B:

1C:

Two gallons of water for one day seems pretty difficult since I use a little over 100 gallons in one day. I’m sure though if people in other parts of the world can do it, then so can I.  I’m sure if I only take a shower once a day that uses an energy saving shower head, it won’t use as much water and I can probably do the face washing and brushing teeth while I am showering. As for dishwashing loads and dishwashing by hand, I could just buy paper plates and utensils to save water. I don’t drink much water normally, which isn’t exactly healthy, but since I only drink about 16 oz. a day, then it shouldn’t be a problem to use that much water. My priorities are definitely drinking water and maintaining my hygiene, but there are days when I could go without washing my hair and use something such as dry shampoo or baby powder, and just wash my body. I think this experiment would be very difficult and I’m sure I would fail on my first try, but if I continued to try it out, I’m sure I could get the hang of it and figure out better ways to conserve water by trial and error. As discussed in Module 4, the social norms around me are basically using water as we want because we have it. However, social norms in other places, such as Haiti or Mozambique, aren’t the same as they are here. Geography is a big influence on how much water people use, especially if there are no water systems around. Places without water systems are usually places in which people are poorer and use water straight from rivers or lakes. That water could be contaminated, but that is all they have. It definitely puts things in perspective and makes you realize how lucky we are and how we can make a difference and conserve water.