After reading the Business Week Article "There will be Water", I have come to believe that a single person or entity should have rights to water that flows beneath common ground such that they are able to capture and divert the water to sell for a profit. Although I don't completely agree with all of the politics behind the story, water is, in fact, a scarce resource; if it had not been made a commodity by large corporations or powerful individuals, I believe that the world would have to face an exceptionally greater issue with the current water supply, or shortage, rather. In other words, if people are not buying water, they are getting it for free, and are thus more predisposed to taking such a natural resource for granted.
The article explains how T. Boone's plan involves building a pipeline to Dallas. The plan may impose some inconveniences for any local homeowners in his way, as he will want to purchase their land. Building the pipeline will also obviously tamper with the wildlife along the way, and ultimately deplete the aquifer. If his plan is rejected, alternative solutions to the water shortages for residents in cities such as Dallas would include keeping it local, or getting their water from another location. As Florida's population is indeed growing, there exists potential risk for a situation as such to arise-because, as populations grow, the demand for water will ultimately grow as well.
Furthermore, as a related activity, I was asked to keep track of any water usage for a period of 24 hours. In order to more accurately determine the amount of water I consumed/drank, I used the same 20 FL OZ (1.25 PT) bottle each and every time that I filled up. I ended up re-filling the water bottle 6 times during the 24 hour time frame; thus consuming 120 FL OZ (7.5 PT or roughly 1 gallon) of water throughout the day.
I took 2 showers that day; the first one was 10 minutes long and approximately 20 gallons of water was used, and the second shower lasted 20 minutes, and used approximately 60 gallons. I used http://ga2.er.usgs.gov/edu/sq3action.cfm in order to determine that a shower usually uses 2 gallons per minute. I brushed my teeth twice that day, both times during my shower.
The same website helped me conclude that each toilet flush uses 3 gallons of water. I flushed the toilet a total of 8 times throughout the duration of my day, thus using 24 gallons. Coincidently, I washed my hands, which consumed 1 gallon per minute, 8 times during the day, thus using 8 gallons of water.
In sum, I ended up using roughly 113 gallons of water on the day that I kept record, which was kind of a shock to me. After conducting a little research, I learned from http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/qahome.html that an average American consumes 80-100 gallons of water per day. Which means, that the amount I used was above average, when I was in belief that I took steps to conserve water in my day to day activities.
I always try to brush my teeth during my showers. I also try to keep my showers at a minimum of 20 minutes. I never throw away water, or waste it, and I do laundry only once every two weeks. Keeping track of my water usage was definitely an eye opener! I suppose I will have to make more of an effort in the future.
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