Instructions: Create a spreadsheet to conduct a water usage estimate for your household. Your spreadsheet should include an estimate of the water used from all faucets, showers, toilets, and water-using appliances by your home. Document the water source, its flow rate, the approximate duration it is flowing for, and how many times a day or per week it is turned on (and by whom, if you have roommates with very different habits!). Here is a template https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OIU4NwNxe2…. for you to get started.
You may need to look up the flow rate of your specific faucets, sprinkler heads, and water-using appliances (or find standard or low-flow values, if you don’t have enough information). You may also need ask any roommates you have about their behaviors, such as how long they typically shower for, or how many times they flush the toilet per day. Do your best!
Submit:
Write a 0.5 page summary and 0.5 page reflection on your water usage estimate (1 page total):
Summary: In 0.5-page, summarize how you conducted your estimate: what were major components of your estimate, or what assumptions did you need to make? Does your total estimate of gallons/week or gallons/month seem reasonable?
Reflection: In 0.5-page, reflect on your water use by answering the following:Where water is used the most, the least, what is surprising? Make sure to put your numbers in context — use any metric of your own choice: either comparing to one of your other values, or using a common liquid volume for comparison. For example, how many Olympic-sized swimming pools are used to water your lawn? Do your teeth-brushing sessions use nearly equal the amount of water as your showers? Make some recommendations to your household of where you could save water. What would be the most impactful area to save? What would be the easiest changes to make?