Natural Resources Activity: Water Quantity Comparison Design: Just how much do we use?

Transcription

1 Name: Lab Partner(s): Date: Class Natural Resources Activity: Water Quantity Comparison Design: Just how much do we use? PART 1: Human uses for water. Using the space below, create a thinking map that contains as many different uses for water you and your partner(s) can think of. Direct and indirect uses: There is the water we directly use, such as the water needed to flush the toilet, cook our food, wash our cloths and of course, drink. But there are indirect uses of water as well. These are things that we usually don t think about, such as the water it takes to grow the vegetables you eat, or the amount of water it takes to grow the trees we use to build our homes, or the amount of water needed to mix the concrete we drive on, or the amount of water needed to extract the oil and gas that we use to power our homes and run our cars. Based on the reading above, create a definition, examples and drawings to represent direct and indirect water use. direct water use Definition Examples from your list Illustrations indirect water use PART 2: Make some predictions: Look at the list of common water uses below. Make a prediction as to how much water you think is used for each activity in column B. PART 3: Research actual amounts: Go to the United States Geological Survey at home- percapita.html to find the ACTUAL AVERAGE amount used for each activity and write these in column C. A B C Water Uses Prediction water needed (in gallons) Actual amount used Taking a bath Taking a 10 min shower Flushing the toilet 1 load in dishwasher 1 load of laundry 1

2 PART 4: Water use over time According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the average family of four people uses around 400 gallons of water per day. Do the calculations below to find out how much water each person uses in a year. You know: The average American household of 4 people uses 400 gallons per day. This means that each person uses gallons per person per day. Calculate a per capita annual water use = 400 gallons x days = gallons/year Individual annual use: gal/year_ 4 = gallons used per person in one year Rounded to the nearest ten thousand: AVERAGE LIFETIME USE: According to the Social Security Administration, the lifespan of the average American is 85.4 years (round up to 85). Calculate the amount of water the average American uses throughout their ENTIRE life: We can use the following equation where x=lifetime water use, a= individual yearly water use and b= life expectancy x = (a) X (b) x =? gallons a = gallons (from above calculation) b = 85 years So, plug and chug! X = lifetime water use= ( gallons) X ( years) = gallons used over entire life Round that number to the nearest whole million: gallons used in average US lifespan Pause to Reflect: Look at the amount of water you would use in a lifetime. Do you think this number is high or low? Why? YOUR FAMILY USAGE: Calculate the average amount of water your family uses every day: So, in the above statement, a family of 4 uses about 400 gallons per day, so that means each person uses about 100 gallons per day. 100 gallons per day x (number of people living in your house) = gallons per day Now to calculate the amount of water used in your house in a year: gallons per day x days = gallons per year in your household Pause and Reflect: NOTE: This number will go into the Water Use Date Sheet (appendix D) later Does this number surprise you? Why or why not? 2

3 Part 5: Amount of water used in hydraulic fracturing: You should have a Water Use Data Sheet and a Well Data Collection Sheet, and access to the internet Look at the Water Use Data Sheet. On this sheet are some of the calculations you did earlier in the lesson, but they have been rounded for you. FILL IN THE AMOUNT OF WATER YOUR FAMILY USES IN A YEAR Keep the Water Use Data Sheet in a safe place. You will need it later. Now, using the Well Data Collection Sheet, you will record water volume information for any 14 wells in Colorado, with at least 4 being near our school. Follow the instructions below to get to the Fracfocus data. Use screen shots at each step to help you. The website you are going to use was created by an organization called Fracfocus. Its main purpose is to provide the public with information about the contents of fracking fluid. Luck for us, it also discloses the total volume of water used at each fracking site! You will use this site to gather information for 14 different hydraulic fracturing sites around Colorado. Let s go! NOTE: In order for the website to function properly, YOU MUST USE GOOGLE CHROME! STEP 1: Go to STEP 2: Click on Find a Well by State STEP 3: Click MAP SEARCH STEP 4: Once there, select Colorado 3

4 STEP 5: Zoom in until Colorado is in the middle of the screen. (You will have to use the cursor to move the map around so that Colorado stays in view!) When Colorado is centered, your screen will look like this: Please make sure that SOME OF THE WELLS YOU USE ARE NEAR OUR SCHOOL! In order to get info on individual wells, you must zoom in until the individual location markers are visible. Look for the closest wells to our school. To access the data sheets for each well, click on the blue icon. You will see a pop up that looks like this: STEP 10: To open the information sheet, click on the PDF icon 4

5 STEP 11: Once you click on the icon, it will download the file, to open the file, click on the document file at the bottom of the screen STEP 12: The file is open! And should look like this: There is a TON of information on this sheet. Look through it. Not only does this document contain the fracking fluid ingredients (components), but it contains locations, depth, water etc. The information you will collecting will be in the small box near the top of the document. You will need the Well Name and Number, True Vertical Depth, and the Total Base Water Volume (gal). YOUR TASK: Use the Well Data Sheet to record information for 14 wells around Colorado 5

6 WATER COMPARISION SCALE MODEL DESIGN Ok, so you ve examined both direct and indirect uses of water in the U.S. We have seen that hydraulic fracturing uses more water than some families will use in their entire lives. It is hard to imagine what 10 million gallons of water looks like. It will be your job to help visualize these amounts! You will be creating a comparison model to demonstrate the volumes of indirect and direct uses. Use the following charts to help plan your model: Water Use Data Sheet- Represent as many of the various amounts as possible. Well Data Sheet Represent all of the wells in your model. You should represent as many of the amounts as possible: For example. I used a square like this one this: to represent 37,000 gallons of water. My comparison model would look like = amount of water an average US citizen uses in a year So if I wanted to use that base to show how much water is in an Olympic size pool, I would have to figure out how many squares to use: Amount of water in the pool: 660,000 gallons 660,000/37,000 = 17.8 (round to 18) So, to represent a swimming pool, I would use a 1:18 ratio, meaning I would need 18 squares. YOUR TASK: Use the space below to design a scale model that demonstrates the volume comparisons to the water volumes listed below. You will find these volumes on the data sheet that was given to you as well as the data sheet you completed for the well sites. Your teacher will supply you with various materials to use to build your comparison model, you may only choose one building material! Use the space below to give details about your design: Material choice (if you choose to create a digital model, write down which program you are using instead) We are going to create our model using Base unit volume = gallons this represent the amount used by: Draw a sketch of your model, please also give your approximate dimensions (length, width, height) 6

7 Once your scale is calculated and sketch is accurate, check in with your teacher for your materials and start constructing your model For more information about household water use, go to For more water use data go to 7