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. 

Well, when I calculated my average water per year I got approximately 100,375 liters a year.  What I did was find the average amount of liters I used and then multiplied it by 365.  Testing 123

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?

 My estimated water footprint per year is approximately 351 cubic meters per year.  If 1 cubic meter is 1,000 liters then that means that my yearly water footprint in liters is 351,000.  This does surprise me because this number is much larger than my personal estimate.  

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?

 The number that was calculated for me on waterfootprint.org was larger than the one I personally calculated.  I think that the one from waterfootprint.org is larger because it is also including hidden use which is an extremely large factor.  Food takes a lot of water so including it will very largely increase the amount of water that I used. The impact is large because it added more than 250 thousand liters to my water use.  That is a large number.  

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

  After looking at the chart, an average person seems to use much more than me.  I think that this is so because there are people that live in rural areas where they water their cars, lawns, gardens, patios, and fields, but I don't do any of that.  I live in the city where I can not do that.  This may also be another factor that raised other peoples water usage and lowered mine.  

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?  

  Out of all the countries that are listed, ours seems to be the highest.  We are a country that just seems to be a coustumed to this so we just use and use and use the water we have, not being very concious of how much is left.  In other countries hat don,t have as much money they are more careful with how much they use.  They also don't have such direct resources which leaves them with less water per person.  

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?

The water footprint of our people play a role in the water cycle because we use lots of water and we will always have the amount of water that we will ever have.  A negative thing related to the hydrosphere and biosphere is that because of humans wanting more and more water we are taking it away from animals that need it to survive.  Water is a nessecity to all living things so our want can not take away the water of other beings and animals.  We need to balance out our water use between us and others.