Answer these questions in the comments section on this page. Do not number the questions. Please answer all questions in complete sentences.
1) Open the Waterlogged Google Doc. How many gallons of water does your family use on a daily basis? (If you did not finish this before, you will need to finish it now to find out your daily water usage in gallons).
2) You carried 5 gallons of water on one trip yesterday. How many trips would it take for you to provide enough water for your family?
3) If it takes about 1 hour per trip (round trip) how many hours would this take you? Is it possible for you alone to make enough trips in one day to fulfill your water needs?
4) In Africa, the mother and all of the children make the water trip together. If your mother, you and all of your siblings made the water trip together, how long many trips would it take all of you to fulfill your water needs?
5) Please write a reflection about the activity that we did yesterday, especially now that you have compared it to your water needs.
6) Once you finish, go to the Water Project sheet and follow the instructions there.
Water Usage Facts
http://www.tampagov.net/dept_water/information_resources/saving_water/Water_use_calculator.asp
1) Open the Waterlogged Google Docs above
2) Create a DUPLICATE of the sheet named "Make A Copy"
3) RENAME your sheet with your initials only
4) Fill in the sheet from your Waterlogged Data Sheet
5) DO NOT PUT UNITS (see my example sheet if you need help - JHR)
Tonight (1/19/11):
1) Determine the GPM of the faucets and showers in your house from Activities 2 - 7 on the Waterlogged Data Sheet. You will need to use conversion units to convert your measure (cups, ounces,... to gallons). If you do not know the conversion, google it!
2) Determine your GPM for each faucet (see below) and enter this information into the Waterlogged Google Docs
Here's how to quickly determine flow rate for a specific faucet or shower head:
- Turn the fixture on to its normal position
- Place a container under the fixture and collect the water for 10 seconds
- Measure the quantity of water in the container and convert the measurement to gallons (e.g., 0.25 gallons)
- Multiply the measured quantity of water by 6 to calculate the flow rate in gallons per minute (0.25 gal x 6 = 1.5 GPM).
Source: About.com
Hand Washing
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hand-washing/HQ00407
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080102591.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-01-20-handwashing-cold-and-flu_N.htm
Comments (15)
Drew said
at 11:55 am on Feb 18, 2011
Drew said
at 12:01 pm on Feb 18, 2011
My family uses 384. 13 gallons of water a day. If i had to make a trip to a well carrying five gallons of water on my back I would have to make 76.8 trips a day. If it took 1 hour to make a round trip it would take 76.8 hours a day to get enough water for my family. Clearly this is not possible to make this many trips in a day.
Davis said
at 12:01 pm on Feb 18, 2011
My family uses 264.5 gallons of water each day. To provide enough water for my family, I would have to make 53 trips to provide my family with water. To provide this water,I would have to make 53 hours worth of walking each day. There is not even 53 hours in a day! It is not possible for someone to make this trip. If my mother and my 3 other siblings went to gather water, then we would have to make about 11 trips (10.7 total) to get our water. Yesterday made me realize that in some places, there is very little supply of water, and we use way more than everybody. I think that if water was more evenly distributed, then everybody would have some more water.
Drew said
at 2:27 pm on Feb 22, 2011
I can't see how anyone can carry that much water on their backs for two plus hours and twice a day.
Cameron said
at 2:38 pm on Feb 22, 2011
MORGAN said
at 2:39 pm on Feb 22, 2011
My family uses approximately 252.8777 gallons per day. If I carried 5 gallons on one trip to get water for my household, I would need to take about 51 trips to get all the water my family uses. This would take me 51 hours! I would not be able to carry this much water, because there's only 24 hours in a day. If my mother, my brother, and I all collected the water for our household, we would each take 17 trips. The activity we did yesterday really opened my eyes about how much water my family uses. The people in Africa could never use that much water, because they don't have the resources that we do. I really feel bad that we waste so much water, and we don't realize how lucky we are to be able to turn the faucet on and have water come out.
Arianna H said
at 2:41 pm on Feb 22, 2011
Daily, my family uses about 264 gallons. I would have to take 53 trips with 5 gallons on each trip a day. I would have to take 53 hours, which means it would take me more than a day. That would take about 2.2 days. It would take about 26 hours with me and my mom transporting the water, which is still more than a day. Yesterday, the activity we did was really fun, and also a bit hard because the water, even at 5 pounds, was very heavy. I can't imagine carrying that much water for more than a day, 26 times with my mom. For 26 hours. That would be hard on my back and neck and legs, but it might strengthen them too.
Michael said
at 2:42 pm on Feb 22, 2011
My family uses about 259 gallons per day. If I had to take this trip by myself, it would take me 51.8 hours per day. What 54 hours??? I want to visit this place where there are 54 hours in a day. If my Mom, Morgan, and myself all went together, it would take us a total of 17 hours. Still, it dominates most of the day. Today, when I look at our water consumption, I am glad I live in such a good country. As Americans, we are thought to be greedy, and I would have to agree, because we Americans use WAY more water than most of the African countries and places where freshwater is unavailable. We don't think about how bad a drought is, but to places where fresh water is not readily available, it can be deadly because what little fresh water is available is gone.
Natalie Buechler said
at 2:44 pm on Feb 22, 2011
My family uses 252.88 gallons of water per day. If I had to take a trip to get every 5 gallons of water, I would need to make 50.576 trips per day. If it took one hour to make a trip, It would take 50.576 hours per day to get the amount of water that my family uses. It is not possible to get that amount of water in one day. If my mother and I both carried the water (I don't have any siblings), then it would take us 25.288 hours to get all of the water. I can't believe that we use so much water, when some people have to make due with only about 10 or 20 gallons per day. We are really spoiled to be able to use as much water as we want. Some people have to go through so much trouble to get water. It would be impossible for Americans to go through that, since our country is well off.
Leela said
at 2:44 pm on Feb 22, 2011
My family uses 413 gallons of water per day. My family would have to make 82.6 trips. It would take 82.6 hours to make this trip, which is not possible in a day. If my mom, my older sister, and I would take 27.53333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333 hours to get this water. This is also not possible to do in a day. The activity yesterday was really fun because I never realized how heavy 5 gallons is. It really puts the suffering of the women in Africa into perspective.
Ally A. said
at 2:45 pm on Feb 22, 2011
My family uses 142 gallons per day. To provide enough water for my family I would have to make 28 trips carrying 5 gallons of water. That would take me 28 hours. There aren't that many hours in a day! It is not possible to complete that in one day. If my mother and I made the trip it would take us 14 hours, which would be possible but we would be exhausted by the end. When we carried the 5 gallon buckets around it made me realize how easy we have it. We complain about the silliest things compared to what people in Africa have to deal with.
Beastnugg said
at 2:45 pm on Feb 22, 2011
My family drinks 133.85 gallons of water a day. It would take me 26 hours each day. So also 26 times a day plus. so it would not be possible to get my water in one day. It would take us 6 hours and 30 minitues.
Emily said
at 2:47 pm on Feb 22, 2011
My family uses 472.35 gallons of water a day. If I carried five gallons of water on one trip, it would take me 94.47 trips to provide enough water for my family. 94.47 trips would take me 94.47 hours to provide enough water for my family. This would take me 3.93625 days to get enough water for my family for ONE day. If my mom and siblings came along to help (that would be five people) it would take us 18.894 trips, which would take 18.894 hours (barely less than one full day). The activity we did yesterday made me really appreciate the water from our faucets. I do not think I could carry five 472.35 gallons everyday. I am very glad I do not live in a place like Africa and that I know when I drink water from a faucet, the fear of getting sick from a disease doesn't occur.
Cameron said
at 3:00 pm on Feb 22, 2011
my family uses 410 gallons per day.It would take me82 trips and 82 hours. it would take 20.5 hours if my family came. The thing yesterday was really hard i cant imagine doing that all day.
Burns K. said
at 8:23 am on Feb 23, 2011
My family uses 562 gallons of water per day. It would take me 112.4 trips and 112.4 hours. It would take me 16 hours if my family came to help. I liked the activity we did. It was really fun. A lot of people got wet and it was fun to watch. Overall, I liked this project. It was fun.
You don't have permission to comment on this page.