Main research question : Is it possible to reduce your water footprint or the water footprint of your family by more than 20%?
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* What is meant by a water footprint? Why does the food you eat greatly influence your water footprint?
Everything we use, buy sell and eat takes water to make. The water footprint is a calculation of water used to produce each of the goods and services we use. It can be measured for a single process, such as growing rice, for a product, such as a pair of jeans, or for an entire multi-national company. The water footprint can also tell us how much water is being used by a particular country or globally.
The water footprint has three components: green, blue and grey.
-The green water footprint is water footprint is water from precipitation that is stored in the root zone of the soil and evaporated, transpired or incorporated by plants. it is especially relevant for agricultural, horticultural and forestry products.
-The blue water footprint is water that has been sourced from surface or groundwater resources and is either evaporated, incorporated into a product or taken from one body of water and returned to another. Irrigated agriculture, industry and domestic water use can have a blue water footprint.
-The grey water footprint is the amount of fresh water required to neutralise pollutants to meet specific water quality standards. The grey waterprint considers point source pollution discharges to a freshwater resource .
We grow crops to eat them or to give them to the animals we keep. It takes more water to feed our animals with the crops we grow, then if we ate them ourselves. Also animals do not need a lot of water for drinking. Most of our water use is to grow crops, to keep our animals alive and , eventually, to have meat on the table. But not all animals use the same amount of water. For example, chickens use less water than cows. If you eat meat, all the water it took to produce that meat adds up to your water food print. That means that it's better to eat vegetables because they take less water to produce. The water you use to prepare your meal also adds up to your water footprint.
* What is the average water footprint of the families in your group? Use www.waterfootprint.org.
* What are the most efficient ways to reduce the water footprint in a family?
You can start reducing your water footprint by for example turning off the tap while brushing your teeth, and many more ways. Which of them is exactly the most efficient? You can start with the most simple reductions, such as: showering 1-5 minutes less, cooking meals that require less water usage than normal, using less water when cleaning clothes or washing dishes, and these are just the easy ones.
There are tons of ways to just reduce your water footprint by a few gallons (1 gallon=3,8 litres). One of the most efficient ways of reducing your water footprint, needing 15000 litres of water every kg, is meat. If you eat 1 kg meat, meat is already 25% of your weekly water footprint. Just by eating 1 portion less (1 portion=100 grams) you can save up to 1200-1500 litres per week. In the Netherlands, the external water footprint is 95% and the internal is 5%. External water footprint is the water footprint that falls outside of the nation. This refers to the materials/consumables that have been imported into the country that have a virtual water footprint. That means that 95% percent of our water footprint exists out of imports with a virtual water footprint as background (such as clothes, which have cloth in them. Cotton takes water to grow, and cloth is made of cotton, polyester, and even leather, and all of them need water to “grow”) takes part of our virtual water footprint)
* To what extent could you contribute to the reduction of the water footprint of your family?
We use water for a lot in the house. We use it in the bathroom, we use it to do our laundry, we use water to was the dishes, we flush the toilet with water, we water our plants so that they can live on, we use water to cook and, so on. But how can we reduce this water use so that our water tax doesn’t increase? Let’s look at the 3 big users of water: the shower, the toilets and cooking.
The first big user is the shower. For the shower an avarage person uses 65.1 liters and showers for about 8.2 minutes, but we can reduce that number.
Pay attention to the length of time spent in the shower. Try taking shower for about 5 minutes If you have a shower with an on-off switch, use it. when you’re soaping or shampooing, turn it off and when you’re done turn it on again. If you have to wait for your water to warm up then try saving the cold water in a bucket or something to re-use it again. Another big user of water is the toilet. We use the toiler everyday, but on avarage we flush 5 times which makes the toilet use 31% of the water footprint in the household. How can we then reduce that percentage?
Instal a new WaterSense labeled high efficiency toilet model to save water. Do not use the toilet as trash can. Trash should be thrown in the garbage! If you hear the water running in the toilet tank for an unusual length of time, a simple adjustment can return it to normal operation. If your toilet has a water line indicator on the tank, make sure the water is below the line when the toilet refills. If your home has a dual flush toilet, try to use the low flush mode as much as possible. Experiment to see how much the low flush can handle. The last big user is the faucet. The faucet, the source of our water in the house. It uses up to 15-18% of the water footprint in the household. For faucets in the bathroom, kitchen and utility sink, it’s 68.5 and 101.1 L per day. This is a big amount that has to be reduced, but how?
Shut off faucets whenever possible. Make sure your faucet doesn’t drip and leak.
* Do you know where the water from the tap comes from? how do you know that water is clean? Do you drink water out of a bottle or just from the tap? How much water do you drink every day? How much water do you use every year? Where do you use water for? Would it be possible to reduce the water consumption of your family?
60% of Dutch drinking water comes from groundwater, mainly in the eastern part of the Netherlands. The remaining 40% comes from surface water, mainly in the West where water utilities pump from the Rhine and the Meuse because groundwater is brackish. Fill a clean, clear glass with water from your tap. Hold the glass up to the light and take a look at the water. Can you see particles floating in the water or settling to the bottom of the glass? Anything other than clear liquid could be a sign of bacterial or particulate contamination. We drink water out of a bottle more than just fro the tap. We drink approximately 1.5 to 2 liters per day. Estimates vary, but each person uses about 80-100 gallons of water per day. So to calculate it you do 3.8 x 100 = 380. 380 x 365= 138700 Liters.
We mainly use water for:’ drinking, preparing food, bathing, washing clothes and dishes, brushing your teeth, watering the yard and garden. It would be possible to reduce the water consumption of your family. You can bathe for 5 minutes instead of bathing 10 minutes or more. Use a little bit water for brushing your teeth and washing dishes. If you do this, you can have a lot of advantages. Reduced water usage can lower individual expenses and time spent acquiring water. Reducing use of hot water lowers individual expenses for energy. Reduction of the total water consumption lowers the demand for the extension of water supply systems and facilities as well as for costly water treatment facilities. Reduced water usage can improve the availability of water for other uses.
Interviews with adults
For this assignment we have interviewed our parents about drinking water.
Jaylen's interview with his mother.
My mother was born in Surinam, hence the first question.
Question: What is the difference between tap water in Surinam and tap water in the Netherlands?
Answer: ''Tap water in Surinam is drinkable, but you do notice a difference in taste. I feel safer drinking water tap water in the Netherlands than I do in Surinam
Question: What do you prefer to drink; tap water or bottled water? And why?
Actually I don't really have a preference. However, in my mind it is better to drink bottled water because I believe that it is refined better. With some brands of bottled water you can really taste the difference between tap and bottled water; it tastes a little better. The disadvantage is that you have to buy bottled water in a store while you can easily get water from your tap. I would have no problem living without bottled water though.
Question: To what extend do you think water contributes to your health?
Answer: A lot. The human body exists out of a lot of water. It's good to stay hydrated because you clense your kidneys by drinking water. Water is not bad when you get used to drinking it. It can even help with certain problems, a headache for example or to lose weight. It contributes to a lot of processes that keep you healthy. That's why I think water is very important.
Aman's interview with his mother.
Aman: Do you think drinking water is clean?
His mum: Yes, because drinking water in the Netherlands is clean for most people here.
Aman: Do you think water in a bottle is more cleaner than drinking water?
His mum: I don’t know for sure, because water in general is normal in the Netherlands. That is what I know.
Aman: Can drinking water help people who have health issues?
His mum: It does help people with health issues and illnesses. I had a cold last week and I kept drinking water to be healthy again.
Wadim's interview with his mother.
What is your opinion about the fact that people use too much water and can be a potential danger for the environment and nature?
“I think that people should reduce their water usage and by just saving up a little bit, you can easily help changing the world”
Can you describe the actions people have to perform in order to reduce the water usage?
“One simple thing could be showering one minute less, or click the small button on the toilet, and it will save tons of liters by just doing this”
And what about consumables?
“I think that meat should be promoted less and be more expensive since it cost a lot of water and people consume meat a lot. This has a huge impact on the environment and nature in my opinion.”
Nathaniel's interview with his mother.
Information about the interviewed person: she has lived in Surinam and moved to the Netherlands and has been here now for longer than 3 decades.
1 What is the difference between the water from now and then in the Netherlands?
My mom said: “It is more like Springwater now. It has become cleaner and it has less of a taste.”
2 Can you remember or say the difference between the water from Surinam and the Netherlands.
My mom said “The water in Surinam tasted a bit like lead it wasn’t as clear as the water from the Netherlands.”
I wanted to know how much water she used so I started asking water usage related type of questions.
3.How long do you shower per day?
She answered 20 minutes which is an improvement cause she said she used to shower an hour.
4. How much water do you use for cooking?
She answered “ I think about a litre.
5. Did you know that the toilet has 2 buttons one that flushes a lot of water and one that flushes less? She answered that she didn’t know that.
I answered with the follow up question. With which do you flush mostly.
She answered that she uses the small one unintentional.
That is where we ended the interview and wished her a goodnight.
Interview with mother of Valentino
Why do you think water is used to drink?
Because it is the source of life, without water we couldn’t drink thee, coffee or lemonade.
Do you think ‘’water’’ is a good or bad drinking source? And why?
Both, it’s good because water is one of the things in life that lets you survive but it can also be bad because it can be a reason for your death, for example you could drown.
How much water is spent on drinking around the world, do you think?
I think 90% of the world population uses water to drink.
Interview with the grandparents of Valentino
I interviewed both my grandparents so these are their answers instead of individual ones.
How much water do you think is being used in the house?
My grandpa answered the question and said that for showers, he and my grandmother uses 5L water. Then he said that I used 20L and my mum 10L. after that we looked at the amount of shower water used by my little sister 1L.
We also looked at what we used water for next to showering, for example washing clothes or the dishes. We use 20L water for washing clothes and the dishes we use 100 to 120L water. that all together would be: 176L water is used. (by the way, this was just a wild guess we made)
What could be changed, so that the water use can be reduced?
‘’no taking long showers, saving up more water, be more aware of the water use, example: do not take a 1 hour long shower but 30 minutes.’’
For which activity, is water used the most?
We looked at the first question they answered and we could conclude that most water was being used to take a shower and doing the dishes.
Conclusion
Eventhough hard, reducing your water footprint by 20% is possible. You can save water in almost every daily activity that takes water to complete. The activities that use most water are showering and flushing the toilet, so that's a good place to start. Of course you don't have to reduce your water usage by 20% to be sufficient. Every little bit helps.
Reflection
We have gathered most of our information from the internet. All of us have contributed to the final product. We think it turned out alright, but we could have done better. For a starter, we should have started way earlier. We kept procrasinating and that caused us lose time that could have been used to improve our project. The communicatiion between the group members was good. we kept reminding each other of the deadlines so we didn't fall behind. the only problem there was is that we mostly worked separated, thus not helping each other. The biggest flaw is the layout we think. Our research looks a bit boring an maybe even intimidating because there is not really any compensation for the text.
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