Do You Keep Track of Water?

This is for my water class. We are wrapping up the unit 71% where we learned about the water crisis occurring in different parts of the world, we calculated the amount of potable water versus the non potable water in this world. We had a field experience which is basically where we had to go to the local Chicago River, we had to bring buckets in order to carry the water back to the school which was .2 miles apart. I carried approximately 1.5 gallons in 8.84 mins. I now have a project where we make our calculations of our daily usage of water we use in a day, and calculate how long that would take, how many gallons I would carry each trip, etc.  I will also have to explain my own experience in carrying this water and how I feel about these water crisis that are happening globally.

I never really thought about the amount of water that I used on a daily basis, until one day in class my teacher asked me to estimate the amount of water that I used in a day. I estimated about fifteen gallons of water per day, turns out in reality I use about two hundred thirty-nine gallons of water per day. This was really an eye opener for me to finally realize the amount of water we use per day. I use more gallons of water than an average person uses water in liters. It really concerns me because I even use more water per day than an average person in America, around five hundred seventy-five in liters, which is 2213.75 gallons.  We think about the real problems in the world, but we never really put an action into it, we should begin to think more about the change we must make. Even the smallest changes make the biggest impact by just closing the tap while you’re nut using it or taking less time in the shower. Most of my water usage came from taking thirty five minute showers, which I would use one hundred seventy-five gallons of water. I have tried something out where now I will take fifteen minute showers, which cuts me down by one hundred gallons of water, basically means that I am now using seventy five gallons of water per shower. While it looks like quite a lot, by cutting down the amount of time you use the most water it will also lead to a decrease in the amount of water usage per day. This really got me thinking about the phrase, “ A little goes a long way”, the less water you use means more water for the people who need it. Think about being a child in a poverty country. Whatever your daily usage of water might be, think about the amount of trips you would have to take per day. My calculations show me that it would take me about It takes me about 8  mins to carry 1 ½ gallons of water. I would have to carry around 237.5 more gallons of water the whole day in order to get to my score. It would take me 48 hours to collect the amount of water that I need per day. I figured this out by multiplying the amount of minutes which was 8.84 times I would have two days in order to get the amount of water that I only need for one day. Many people think about fetching water as a job because it does take most of your day, and you need to provide the sufficient amount for your family.    Do you ever think about the amount of water you are really using throughout the day? Ever think about the gallons of water you use while taking a shower? Washing Dishes? Or even drinking water? These are all things that I never thought about until I made the calculations. Turns out I use about 239 gallons of water which is more than the amount a person uses water daily in Japan. This certainly was an eye opener for me, I now realize how much water takes a big part of my life. We need to stand up, we need to help these people in Bolivia, Africa, and even such places as Detroit, Michigan. There are many changes that should be made, but for now let’s start by simply just turning off the tap when not using it. I tried this while taking a shower, before I used 175 gallons of water while taking a shower, and I now only take 15 mins to take a shower which is now only 75 gallons of water.

NBE (2017) Do You Keep Track of Water?

Overall, I really enjoyed this project because I got to experience what others are going through day by day. I think everyone should go out and experience something, because I know we think about all these issues going on in the world, but once you experience what's actually happening you get to really connect with the world and actually take action in these problems that are going on.  The more we begin to take action in these issues the faster these problems will get solved. I am proud to have a different mind set of the situation, and that I will now think more about my daily water usage and actually take part in making a change from now on.


CITATIONS

Images: Pixabay, "American Flag Patriotism Symbol Red White Blue" June 13, 2014

NB, "My Daily Usage of Water" Sept. 20, 2017

Pixabay, "Bucket Water Tub" Oct. 12, 2013

Pixabay, Women Ethic African People, Aug. 17, 2016

SF Bright colorful cartoon background green grass river forest blue sky, 2014

Wikimedia Commons, Japan Regions Map, 26 December 2009

H2O: Long Walk to Water and A World Without Water Connection

This summer, we were assigned to read a book that was based on a world without water. Title of the movie was, A Long Walk to Water, where we were told the story of a young lost boy of Sudan and a young girl named Nya. We were told the daily struggle of dealing with life without water. The documentary was called, A World Without Water, where we were told different stories of famiies that were dealing with the issue of limited amount of water around the world, such as, South America, Africa, and even the U.S.


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