Our World of Water
Water Use and Conservation
The United States as a whole receives an average of about 30 inches of precipitation annually. In other words, the annual rainfall would cover the whole country to a uniform depth of 2½ feet. Almost three-fourths of this water is returned to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration. The remaining one-fourth contributes to runoff and ground water storage and makes up the water available for use.
Water used for normal household purposes such as bathing, dishwashing, and toilet flushing is not consumed. Most of it is returned to the hydrologic cycle through your sewer system. How water probably is used in your home is shown by the following charts. Consider an average household in Minnesota. If you are like the majority of Minnesotans, here are some typical amounts that you would use:
shower
tub bath
flush toilet
washing machine
food preparation and clean up |
30 to 60 gallons/time
30 gallons/time
6 to 8 gallons/time
30 to 50 gallons/time
10 to 20 gallons/time |
These figures average at about 50 gallons per person per day. If you live on a farm, the daily use of water by farm animals is added to your family's need.
horse, dry cow, beef animal
milking cow
hog
sheep
100 chickens |
12 gallons/day
35 gallons/day
4 gallons/day
2 gallons/day
4 gallons/day |
The crops grown on your farm also require a tremendous amount of water. To understand how much water certain crops need, here is a list of what each plant needs during one growing season (6 to 7 months):
corn
potato
tomato
wheat
tree (25 to 30 feet) |
54 gallons/plant/season
25 gallons/plant/season
35 gallons/plant/season
25 gallons/plant/season
84,000 gallons/plant/season |
Even an undesirable plant like ragweed requires 140 gallons of water during the summer. The water for crops comes from soil moisture, precipitation, or irrigation. Irrigation is becoming increasingly important in Minnesota. According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, in 1970 4.5 billion gallons of water were used for irrigation. By 1976 this figure had grown to 8.6 billion gallons and is still rising.
EXPERIMENT #11
| To understand the importance of water to you and your family, list all the ways water is used around your home or farm. You also can measure the amount of water used for things we all take for granted. Using a 5 quart ice cream container, fill a sink to the level used to wash dishes keeping track of how many quarts of water this uses. Use your quart container to rinse the dishes and count the number of quarts needed just to wash the soap off. Can you think of other ways to measure the amount of water used around your home to perform chores such as washing clothes, flushing toilets, or taking baths? What would your home be like if you could have only half of the water you now use? What would you do if your water supply were cut off? |
In addition to these uses, industry requires a great amount of water. In fact, industry is the largest user of water from municipal water supplies. In order to supply us with their goods and services, average use by commerce and industry is about 70 gallons per person per day. Besides domestic and industrial uses, there are two other main classes of municipal water use. The first is called public use, which includes fire extinguishing, street cleaning, public building use, and maintenance of public parks. Public use accounts for about 10 gallons per person per day. The other class of water consumption is loss or unaccounted-for waste. Leaks from water mains, unmeasured leaks from faucets, and errors of measurement contribute to this loss.
EXPERIMENT #12
In order to realize how much water can be wasted even from the simplest error, measure the length of time a dripping faucet requires to fill a quart container. Multiply this time figure by four to tell you how long until a gallon would be wasted. Then figure how much water would be wasted in a day, a month, a year. How much water would you waste in one year if all the faucets in your house were dripping?
Think of ways of conserving water around your home or farm and determine how much water you could save from each method. If water from a family well costs about 15 cents per thousand gallons (according to the Minnesota Department of Health) and water from a municipal supply costs about 59 cents per thousand gallons (St. Paul city rates), how much money could you save in a year if you practiced your conservation ideas? |
Though many industries buy water from the public or municipal supply, many large factories put in their own wells or surface reservoirs. If you live in the city or an area with a high concentration of people, you probably get your water from the municipal water system. These systems draw their water either from aquifers or surface reservoirs. If you live in the country, you probably get your water from your own well. Have you ever noticed the difference in taste between your water and other water? Why is this?
EXPERIMENT #13
| Determine where your water supply comes from. If you obtain your water from a family well, ask your parents if they know how deep the well is and from what kind of formation the well draws its water. Possibly a local water-well contractor could help answer your questions. If you obtain your water from a city supply, ask if you could visit the water department and see how your water is supplied. The Minnesota Department of Health will test your water for you, if you would like to check its quality. Find out who is responsible for making sure your water is safe to drink. If your present water supply was cut off, what other nearby sources of water could you use? |
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Produced by Communication and Educational Technology Services, University of
Minnesota Extension.
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