Lab 4 - Water Footprint Lab

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Lab4-WaterFootprintLab.pdf

GEOG 301: Bay Area Environments Fall 2021

Introduction

Water Footprint Lab Due Nov. 9th by 9:30 AM

We all use water every day, both directly and indirectly. Direct uses of water are most common in the home or workplace; such as, drinking, bathing, laundry, etc. Indirect uses of water, or virtual uses, are related to dietary and consumer habits; such as, how much and what type of meat a person eats. A common misconception of most Americans is that direct uses of water account for the majority of their personal water footprint, when in fact 50% of an average Americans water footprint is secondary use (diets).

A personal water footprint is defined as the amount of fresh water utilized in the production or supply of the goods and services used by a particular person. In this assignment you will use an online water footprint calculator to quantify your own personal water footprint. You will then be able to compare your water footprint to national averages. Then you will reflect on how personal decisions impact the larger society and environment, and the ethical issues this raises.

Activity Summary Fresh water availability locally, nationally, and globally, is a major concern today and will be so for the foreseeable future. In order to fully comprehend this issue, you need to do some background research on the idea of a water footprint and fresh water availability, both in California and throughout the US. Make sure to research the amount of water consumed, or polluted, by different activities in order to understand where communities have the most impact on water usage, and how communities try to manage these impacts. Use information from reliable sources; such as, EPA, USGS, or reputable newspapers. A minimum for three sources are required.

Before you complete the water footprint calculator, keep track of your food intake and water use habits for at least one day and extrapolate them where necessary in order to complete the calculator with accurate data. Keep notes about how you calculated these data and describe in the Methods section of your paper.

Water Footprint Calculator After you’ve kept track of your food intake and water use habits for one day, visit the following GRACE Communications Foundation website to complete the water footprint calculator: (http://www.watercalculator.org)

GEOG 301: Bay Area Environments Fall 2021

Click the blue “START” button to begin. You will begin by answering questions about direct water use (bathing, washing, gardening), then you’ll move on to indirect (virtual) water use. Indirect water use includes your diet, your purchases, and your energy use. The calculator will ask you which state you live in. I encourage you to do the calculator more than once and choose a state other than California the second time and see the differences. Why do you think your water use will change based on which state you select? Be as accurate and honest as possible when completing each question in the calculator. Make sure to read all the information on the bottom of each page. These tips will give you information that can be useful in the Discussion section of your paper. Once you complete all the questions and you get your water footprint total, scroll down the page and explore the results. Click on the “Tips” next to each category to get ideas about water conservation. NOTE: If the “Tips” link doesn’t do anything, right click (PC) or two finger click (Mac) and “Open Link in New Tab”

Deliverable You will need to submit a lab report that follows the standard formatting we have used on our three previous lab assignments. Introduction Introduce the topic and your motivation for conducting this investigation. Provide your background research on the issue of fresh water availability in CA and the US. Be sure to cite your sources when you use information from each. Also include background information about your own personal living situation and habits. Briefly describe your household, diet, energy use, and consumer habits. Don’t forget to provide your hypothesis here as well. What do you expect your results to reveal? Will your H20 footprint be higher or lower than the national average? Methods Briefly explain your use of the water footprint calculator and how you determined the input data, including any assumptions you made (e.g. not knowing if you have low flow toilets). Results Provide the results of the water footprint calculator here and compare your results to the national average. Discussion Explain what the results mean to you and how they relate to the bigger issue of fresh water availability. Address which categories of your water footprint were a surprise to you and whether or not the results confirmed or rejected your hypothesis. There are many ways to reduce your water footprint and you need to discuss what changes you are willing to make and how much these changes will reduce your water consumption. You can play around with the calculator to see which changes would make the biggest difference. And finally, articulate your thoughts on your water consumption compared to national averages. Do you think your water footprint is sustainable, why or why not? References You need to have a minimum of three reliable sources (besides the water footprint website, which you should also list). Be sure you use in-text citations to these sources as

GEOG 301: Bay Area Environments Fall 2021

their information comes up in your paper. Proper citation is NOT just providing a website URL. If you are unsure of proper citation formatting, ask Google or watch the following SFSU Library tutorial. Remember, I don’t care which specific format you use, e.g. APA, MLA, Chicago, etc., just be consistent.

Rubric I. Introduction (3 points)

• Addresses the topic & it’s importance (1 pt) • Motivation (water availability in CA & the US) (1 pt) • Provide hypothesis (1 pt)

II. Methods (3 points) • Water footprint calculator explanation (1 pt) • Detail input data, including assumptions of data (2 pts)

III. Results (2 points) • Results of water footprint calculator (2 pts)

IV. Discussion (6 Points) • Discuss personal results & what results mean to you personally

(1 pt) • Relate your results to your hypothesis (1 pt) • Discuss what you learned from activity (1 pt) • Detail steps to reduce water footprint (1 pt) • Articulate thoughts on water consumption (personal

consumption vs. national averages) and whether or not you think your water footprint is sustainable. (2 pts)

V. Conclusion (2 points) • Summarize ALL of the main points of your investigation

(hypothesis, results, discussion question answers, etc) (1 pt) • Final concluding statement on freshwater availability and your

water footprint (1 pt) VI. References (2 Points)

• Minimum of three references (1 pt) • Proper citation format (1 pt)

VII. Mechanics (2 Points) • Original work (1 pt) • Proper formatting (headers for each report section) (1 pt)

Total Points Available: 20

GEOG 301: Bay Area Environments Fall 2021