Water: A Portfolio of Student Learning

 1.  Using your water log (and average water use from the days you logged), calculate what your average water use per year might be. 

If I were to use my water log to estimate an average water footprint, per year, I would say that it would be around 125,000 liters of water. I would estimate it to be around this amount because on my log it showed that my daily consume of water, from what I calculated, was about 350 liters of water per day, so 350 multiplied by 365 is ABOUT 125,000.

2. What is your estimated water footprint as found using the water calculator on www.waterfootprint.org? (Express in both cubic meters per year and liters per year)   Does this surprise you in any way? Why?

After using the online water footprint calculator I see that my average water footprint, per year, is about 377 cubic meters of water. Saying that 1 cubic meter of water is about 1,000 liters of water, according to the online water footprint calculator, I use about 377,000 liters of water per year. 

This number number surprised me when I saw it for the first time, but since I had already read the PRODUCT GALLERY, when I thought about it, it didn't seem like that much. This especially surprised me, though, because this is about 3 times the amount that I had guessed, using my water log. Another thing that really surprised me is that there is so much water put into the food we use, which is one of the reasons that my water footprint was so high. My water log was also very low because of all the "hidden" water usage, and I didn't accurately estimate the amount of water in each piece of food that I ate. 

3. Think about your average per year from #1 and your estimated water footprint from #2.  Which one is greater?  Why?  How big an impact does “hidden” water use seem to have on your overall water use?

 If you compare the water footprint per year, estimate that I made, based on my water log, to the water footprint that the online calculator made, there is a big difference. The online water footprint calculator was a lot greater than my estimate. I think that this is because the online calculator knew the exact amount of water that was put into food, while in my log I was not able to put that and if I did put it, it would not be accurate. The "hidden" water usage seems to have a huge impact on my overall water usage. You can tell that this is so because my calculations for how much water I used for washing, drinking, ext., were almost exact, and so if my water footprint multiplied by three, and I didn't accurately measure the "hidden" water usage, then that means that this was one of the main reasons for why my water footprint multiplied by three. You can also tell that it had a huge impact because in the online calculator it said that out of my 377,000 liters of water 228,000 were used on food, which is practically "hidden" water usage/ what I didn't measure accurately. 

Use the figures in the table below to help answer questions 4 and 5.

4. How does your water footprint compare with the average footprint of the USA?  Why do you think this is so?

I think that compared to the average water footprint of a person in the USA, my water footprint would be really low. I would think that my water footprint is really low because my water footprint goes about 6.5 times into that of the average american person.

5.How does the average USA water footprint per person compare with that of other countries around the world?  Why do you think such differences exist?  

The average water footprint of a person in the USA has a large difference from that of a person in MOST of the other countries in the WORLD. I think that there is such a big difference in the amount of water that an average person in the USA uses compared to other countries because the USA is a HIGHLY developed country, unlike some of the countries that were shown on the table. Being a developed country increases the water footprint enormously because we have infrastructure, so we can easily get water and do not have to worry about the problem of getting water. Being a developed country also increases the water footprint because we will use water for all of our new technology and as time goes on new things will be made, but everything needs water to be made, so it means that as we make new things the water footprint goes up. Another reason that the USA and other countries, mainly undeveloped or developing, have such a big water footprint difference is because the USA does not notice or care of how much water we use. So we let the water run for as long as we want and take to our advantage and use it for everything we do. This increases the water footprint because we use water, with out noticing or thinking about how much we are really using. 

6. How does your water footprint - and that of every human on earth - play a role in the water cycle?  What positive or negative Biosphere <-> Hydrosphere connections might be created by our individual water footprints?

Our water footprints play a role in the water cycle. Our water footprints play a role in the water cycle becuase since the water is always re-used, purrified, and sent into the atmosphere, if we pollute the water then it will go into the air as a gas, or something harmful to the environment, and come down as acid rain. Also not only could our waterfootprint cause acid rain, but other animals use this water. for example, if we start to pollute the fresh bodies of water, that we have, then the macro-invertabrates and the micro-organisms, that live there, will die and our water will not be as clean.

A possitive connection between the bisphere and the hydrosphere is that we clean the water. By this i mean that we care so much about having clean water that we send people off their land so that our water can be clean. This means that the water is perfect for animals to use and perfect for the water cycle.