Daily Archives: April 10, 2022

Money Given To Wastewater and Drinking Water Infrastructure Projects In New York

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Good news for New York State. On April 7th, the Governor of New York State announced that the State Environmental Facilities Corporation Board of Directors has approved more than $189 million in funding for nine municipalities and public authorities for critical wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects. The purpose of these projects is to modernize the water systems to ensure safe drinking water for all New Yorkers. The nine municipal regions are the Capital Region, Central NY, Mid-Hudson area, Long Island, Mohawk Valley, New York City, the North Country area, and the Southern Tier area.
The Environmental Facilities Corporation is urging municipalities to participate in the Environmental Protection Agency Clean Watersheds Needs Survey which was kicked off in New York on March 1.

This should improve the water systems in New York over time.

https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-189-million-fund-water-infrastructure-projects

Hot Dam! (Hydroelectricity)

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Hydroelectric power is an alternative method to fossil fuel-driven mechanisms. Take, for instance, the Hoover Dam, which generates ~4 billion kilowatt hours per year, and is one of the nation’s largest sources of hydroelectric power.

Hydroelectric power plants and dams usually draw the majority of their power from a reservoir of water, whose output is then controlled by a gate-like mechanism. Potential energy is gained as the water flows down hill, and in the case of the Hoover Dam, power is derived from two ‘wicket gates’ which then reach turbines that control the main power output for the Dam.

Hydroelectric power, be it through dams or other resources, is responsible for ~71 of renewable energy used worldwide, the biggest contributors being the United States, Brazil, India, Russia, and China.

Hydroelectricity is unique in its versatility and application, as well as its vast potentiality in power capacity and drive. It is a form of renewable energy that we should consider making more use of.

Resources:

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/hydroelectric-energy/

https://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/faqs/powerfaq.html

Wasting water and resources is much easier than you may think…

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Humans and animals drink a lot of water daily. It is critical to our survival, but the way that we choose to drink water has a huge impact on sustainability. An example of animal consumption of water is a cow. A cow can consume up to 100 gallons of water per day. One huge form of water waste is the production of clothing. It takes about 2700 liters of water to make the average t-shirt, which is clearly a huge amount of water waste to make one t-shirt. One pair of jeans takes about 7600 liters of water to produce, which means that it takes 10,300 liters of water to make a simple outfit. This also means that thrifting even just one outfit will save about 10,300 liters of water! It would be even better if people kept thrifting to decrease the amount of clothing production that has to occur around the world, therefore decreasing the waste of water. We can all wear clothes that are already in the world instead of buying new ones as a more sustainable option. 

Additionally, I think that bottled water is so popular because it is convenient. I know that my family members who use plastic water bottles just think that they make life easier because they can throw them out when they are done and they do not need to take care or keep track of a reusable water bottle. The average person drinks about four water bottles per day and because there are about 2,700 people (about 2,100 students and 600 faculty and staff members) on Union College’s campus, there are about 10,800 bottles of water consumed on the campus. Water bottles are about one liter of liquid, meaning that I estimate that 10,800 liters of water are consumed on Union’s campus. It takes 1 liter of oil to create four water bottles. I estimate that the amount of oil needed to produce the 10,800 bottles of water would be 2,700 liters of oil, which means that a lot of fossil fuels need to be burned for this production. Transporting the water also uses a huge amount of oil. It depends where the water comes from, but a ten hour plane ride uses 150,000 liters of oil which would clearly add to the fossil fuel emissions used to produce water bottles by a large amount. 

 

Citations: https://www.peta.org/features/california-drought-stats/

https://greenactioncentre.ca/tip-of-the-week/14-ways-to-reduce-water-waste/

https://blog.arcadia.com/how-many-water-bottles-does-one-reusable-bottle-save/

Wasted Water and What We Can Do

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Water is critical to all forms of life on our planet.  Without water, humans would not survive.  However, based on the statistics, it doesn’t seem that we place as much importance on water as we should.  In the US alone, a family can waste 180 gallons of water per week.  Even something as seemingly simple as letting the water faucet run for 5 minutes while washing dishes can waste 10 gallons of water.  As of 2015, each American was estimated to use an average of 82 gallons per day.  This wasted water has real affects on the United States, with 40 out of the 50 US states expecting some form of water shortage in the next decade, as was reported by a 2014 Government Accountability Report.  For something so vital to our very being, mankind sure doesn’t treat water that way.  The wasting of so much water annually can have serious ramifications on future generations’ water supply and we can even see some of these water supply issues faced today.

Water wastage not only harms ourselves and the environment but also harms people financially.  It is estimated that more than $380 could be saved annually solely by using WaterSense labelled fixtures and ENERGY STAR certified appliances.  Despite the negative statistics there are ways to manage and curtail the current wasting of water.  Apart from using certified appliances, doing certain small tasks such as turning off the faucet while brushing can have massive affects in the long run.  By turning off the tap while brushing, roughly 8 gallons of water per day could be saved.  Just simply turning off the water while brushing for 2 minutes could potentially save 2,920 gallons of water annually.

There is no one easy solution to stop the current situation of water wastage, but by being aware of the problem and actively looking for small ways to cut your own wasting of water, massive changes can be made slowly over time.

Works Cited:

https://www.epa.gov/watersense/statistics-and-facts#:~:text=Water%20Stats,gallons%20of%20water%20annually%20nationwide.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/06/06/189192870/when-you-waste-food-youre-wasting-tons-of-water-too