The World's Water

For my first unit of water, I learned about how much water is wasted and how little clean water is available. We did a lot of things in this class- we carried water from the Chicago River, and we made posters that show how much water countries use. I never knew how much water I consumed or how much water other countries consumed until I took this course. This course is an eye-opener because I now have an idea of how much water I use in a day. Taking showers and washing clothes are daily tasks I do not think about regarding water consumption. It blew my mind when I found out that I use 87. 39 gallons of water a day. Moreover, in comparison the average Japanese person uses 99 gallons per day and the average American uses about 151 gallons a day. With my 87 gallons of usage, 49% of my water usage comes from hygiene, 44% from drinking, 25% from washing, and 17% from flushing the toilet.

I realized it would be such a hustle to get water from my nearest source. I do not live by the Chicago River, and I live west of Lake Michigan. It is 4.3 miles to my nearest water source, and that is about a one-hour walk. If I were to commute both ways by foot, it would be about 2 hours just to get 5 gallons of water. I would have to take approximately 17 trips to the water source just to get water that is not even clean. I would have to clean it first; then I would be able to drink it and use it. These are just some of the immediate water problems. My experience carrying water was very hard for me. I helped some friends move about 200 lbs of water, and it was tiring. Water is about 8 pounds per gallon and at 5 gallons that are 40lbs. If you fill up five gallons five times, that's 200lbs. We had to take multiple stops along the way because of the weight.

R.G.2016  The world's water. Water poster