Activity 2.2.1 – My daily water use

My daily water use I calculated from a period of 3 months using my water utility bill. 
People in my home: 3

Water Utility Recorded Water Consumed
First Month: 3,924 gallons of water consumed
Second Month: 3,765 gallons of water consumed
Third Month: 3,468 gallons of water consumed

Monthly per person average
First Month: 1,308 gallons of water consumed
Second Month: 1,255 gallons of water consumed
Third Month: 1,156 gallons of water consumed

Per Person Daily Average Consumed in a Month
43.6 gallons of water consumed per day per user on 1st Month
41.83 gallons of water consumed per day per user on 2nd Month
38.53 gallons of water consumed per day per user on 3rd Month

Average Daily Consumption of Water per person over the recorded 3 months:
41.32 gallons each day per person



Online Calculators to predict how much water my household consumes on a daily basis:

Organization: WaterMatters.org by Southwest Florida Water Management District
URL: https://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/conservation/water-use-calculator

Calculated that my house hold consumes 42 gallons per person per day


Organization: Smart WaterMark managed by The Water Conservancy URL:https://www.smartwatermark.org/watercalculator

Calculated that my house hold consumes 165.3L or 43.667 gallons per person per day


These two websites, hosted by two organizations on opposite hemispheres, can accurately predict my household daily water consumption by giving it honest values. According to a report published in 2014 for the Texas's 84th Legislature by the Texas Water Development Board, "89 gallons per person" per day is the average for in single-family residential housing in Texas. What I can deter from this report, is that my household and I are currently consuming less water than my neighbors on a state average. Interestingly this report does state water utilities usage even for industries. What I am highly interested in is how much water does bottled water vendors use from our water sources to sell over-priced, same-water, in a container made of fossil fuels to our society and get away with. EVEN MORE SO, how much do they profit or revenue generated based on average price per gallon in counties they have bottling facilities, by comparing it to the average sells of their water products made here in Texas.

Furthermore the intersection of politics can concern the validity of the report submitted to the Legislature. The daily average is calculated based on Census data in addition to entire household data averages. Unfortunately it is a known issue that Census reports can be constantly skewed due to fear of retaliation of the federal government of deportation to Latinos whom are either unaware of Census collection and fear of mandatory questions that ask information that non-citizens do not have or fear to give, especially in Texas, a Latino dominate population. This can ultimately result in missing population values to assist in accurately portraying a lower and realistic daily water consumption for the entirety of Texas. 





References

"Water Use of Texas Water Utilities" report for the Texas's 84th Legislature, Texas Water Development Board (2014), https://www.twdb.texas.gov/publications/reports/special_legislative_reports/doc/2014_WaterUseOfTexasWaterUtilities.pdf 

U.S. Congress Policy Brief for "The Hispanic Origin and Race Questions in Census 2020", NALEO Educational Fund (2020), https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110349/witnesses/HHRG-116-GO00-Wstate-VargasA-20200109-SD002.pdf

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Activity 4.1 – US Environmental History and Major Regulations