Ecological Footprint:           

http://pictures.bluepenguin.us                          Resource Use by UPS Students

Focus: Water

Let's take a look at the water consumption and use by our student body:

  As residents of the Pacific Northwest, we are highly sensitive to the beautiful natural environment around us and generally appreciate the complexity and splendor of the ecological web here.  While the University itself is highly efficient in terms of resource usage, it is always beneficial for us as individuals to practice conservation methods and do our best to preserve the natural balance we are lucky enough to enjoy.  Whether you are a freshman in the dorms, an upperclassman living off-campus, or a neighborhood/local resident, we hope to show that simple water conservation techniques are beneficial to the local environment as well as your checking account!

The majority of personal water use by students.  As in everyday life, showering/bathing, drinking, and using the restroom are the main contributors towards our campus consumption.  Knowing the numbers behind our daily activities can help to see the difference conservation has on your next utilities bill.

 

(image courtesy www.usagreen.org)

AVERAGE DAILY WATER USE

Be aware of how much water you use! Awareness is the first step in conservation. The average person uses fifty gallons of water per day on the following activities:

· Toilet - 19 gallons per day
· Bathing & hygiene - 15 gallons per day
· Laundry - eight gallons per day
· Kitchen - seven gallons per day
· Housekeeping - one gallon per day  

TOTAL 50 GALLONS
 

According to Anna Thurston of Tacoma Water, the average person in our city uses 77 gallons per day!

Imagine buying 77 one-gallon bottles of water to get yourself through the day.  That's about 539 per week!

 

Nationwide, Americans use over 408 BILLION gallons per day!  (www.http://ga.water.usgs.gov)

Of course, this breaks down into many parts, including domestic, irrigation, mining, livestock, industrial, hydroelectric, wastewater treatment, electricity, and other public supply uses.  Twenty-one percent (21%) of this total comes from fresh groundwater, of which the state of Washington used 464 million gallons in public supply uses per day in the year 2000.  Compare with California (2.8 billion), Maine (29.6 million), Oregon (118 million), and Idaho (219 million) (http://water.usgs.gov).   For a little reference frame, consider that a large bathtub holds ~50 gallons of water.  To provide for the all the public water use in Washington for one day, you'd need 9,280,000 bathtubs full of water!

For a complete listing of water use by state in the year 2000, go to:

 http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/circ/2004/circ1268/htdocs/table04.html

 

  http://ga.water.usgs.gov

 

 

 

What does this add up to????

2003-2004 Residential Water Rates

Residential	Current		January 2003		January 2004
	Inside City Limits	Outside City Limits	Inside City Limits	Outside City Limits	Inside City Limits	Outside City Limits
Monthly customer charge (5/8” meter)	$9.39	$11.27	$10.14	$12.17	$10.95	$13.14
Water use (cost/unit)
Winter
All units	76.6¢	92.0¢	82.8¢	99.4¢	89.4¢	$1.07
Summer: June-Sept
First 5 units	76.6¢	92.0¢	82.8¢	99.4¢	89.4¢	$1.07
6+ units	95.8¢	$1.15	$1.0	$1.2	$1.1	$1.34

A unit is 100 cubic feet of water, or about 748 gallons.

(Table Courtesy www.ci.tacoma.wa.us)

 

Proposed water rates for 2005 and 2006

    Tacoma Water will ask the Public Utility Board and City Council to approve a system average water rate increase of 12.4 percent, with one step to begin January 1, 2005, and the second step on January 1, 2006.

What does this mean for you?  By type of customer, this increase is:

 

TEST YOUR OWN ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT!  http://www.myfootprint.org/

 

 

Want to learn more?  Try these recommended links:

www.ci.tacoma.wa.us

www.usagreen.org

www.usgs.gov

 

Questions, comments, planning an event, ideas?  Contact us at EFUPS@hotmail.com