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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Watery Farewell

This is it.

This is my final blog as a Water Conservation Office intern.
This is my second to last week as a student at the University of Georgia.
My graduation on the 14th of December looms nearer and nearer...ever present on the horizon.
I just attended my last home football game (after five seasons) as a UGA student. --Wreck Tech--

My blood bleeds red and black.  But because of this internship, it bleeds blue too.

The things I've learned I've shared with you in all the water conservation station posts.
I hope to have also shared some of my heart with you.
Sometimes it's hard to reach through the internet and connect to readers you never see, but all you can do is be honest and hope those reading believe you.
One thing I have learned is that blogging is a conversation.  It's not a lecture, it's not a scientific paper.  It's me talking to you.  It's the two of us sharing ideas, facts, and news.
Sure, it's not the same as sitting together on North Campus enjoying a beautiful November day, but it's the new age, and as I've mentioned before, it's adapt or get left behind.
Thanks for adapting with me.

To my readers: this has been a beautiful, months long conversation with you.  I will miss talking with you every Tuesday morning.  Thank you for listening.  Please keep coming back to support the new bloggers for Team Water, they love to see your comments and your page views.

To my office: thank you.  This internship has been priceless.

Love,
Annaliese Ashley-Intern


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Thanksgiving Water Conservation: Possible?

Last week I talked about how important water is to us, and how thankful I am for it.

With my favorite holiday (Thanksgiving) right around the corner, I wanted to explore water conservation options during the big meal.  It's not something that I would normally think of, but this internship has really opened my eyes to always thinking about conserving our H2O.

Let's start with food prep:

Frozen foods?
Defrost them in the refrigerator instead of running them under hot water.  It just takes a little bit of thinking ahead to transfer foods from the freezer to the fridge.  But...if you're cooking the big meal, you'll be doing a lot of planning anyway.

Washing fresh vegetables and fruit?
Designate a bowl with fresh water instead of sticking them under running water.  Your veggies, fruits, and water bill will thank you.

What's so bad about running your tap water?  Every minute can mean 2 gallons of water down the drain.

Moving onto cooking:

Frying your turkey?  
This is something I've never tried...but for those of you that love watching it sizzle in that deep fryer, I have some tips for you after it's done.
So, what do you do with it?
-You can put it back in the original container, freeze it, and reuse it up to 6 months later.  It might sound strange...but some of the best restaurant food I've had has been cooked with old grease.
-You can add unscented kitty litter, sand, or sawdust to the grease to solidify it, then put it in the garbage.
-You can let it solidify and dump it on trash day.
-Please, Please, PLEASE don't pour the grease down your sink!  There's a large possibility it will congeal and block your pipes...and I'm quite sure plumbers would rather not work over the holidays to clean out turkey grease...especially if they're not getting to eat any of that delicious turkey.

Now to the clean-up:

Fancy china?
I definitely hand wash my Thanksgiving dishes, what with the fancy plates and glasses and all that hoity-toity stuff.  The EPA recommends that you fill one side of your sink with soapy water, place all your dirty dishes in it, scrub, then transfer to the other side for rinsing.  But...don't let the rinsing-side have running water, until you have a pile of dishes to rinse at once!

Crumbs?
Don't put them down the sink, put them in the trash using a paper towel or paper napkin.  The garbage disposal uses a lot of water, so keep that to a minimum.

These tips can help you save up to 10 gallons of water!  (By the way, that's 80 pounds...hefty)
Every little bit helps, even if it's only ten gallons at a time.
Be smart on Turkey Day, be thankful you have the running water with which to cook a wonderful meal to share with your family.
Happy Thanksgiving, friends.


Annaliese Ashley-Intern

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Water You thinking about on Thanksgiving?

I'm thinking about how thankful I am for water!

If I've learned anything during this internship, it's how valuable water really is to us, to our city, to Earth.  As my time in the Water Conservation Office draws to a close, it's really had me thinking about how much water, two hydrogens and an oxygen, really means to my life.

The staff here at the Office and those that work around the clock at our treatment and reclamation facilities...Athens wouldn't run without them.  In fact, we couldn't have Thanksgiving dinner without those that give up their holidays to keep our water clean and running.

Even beyond Athens, water is essential.

Our bodies are about 60% water, our  brains are 70% water, and our lungs are nearly 90% water.  Without water...we'll die.  It helps keep our body temperature normal, it keeps our joints cushioned and functioning properly.  It protects our spinal cord, lungs, and other sensitive tissues.  It gets rid of wastes we create through other essential bodily processes (like digestion, breathing, growing, etc).  It helps keep us cool in the heat (perspiration).

The list goes on...our bodies can't function without it.


The importance of water is even bigger than our bodies.

The Earth needs it.  "The Blue Planet," is called that for a reason: it's 70% water.  However, 97% of that water is saltwater, which, unless it's desalinized, is useless to us.  The remaining 3% is freshwater (useable), but 2% is frozen in our ice caps and glaciers.

We have 1% of all the water on Earth to use.

All of that water, salt and fresh, fill the oceans, rivers, lakes, and underground reservoirs that support animals, plants, and human existence.  And, by the way, most of Earth's species live solely in water.
There are an estimated 7million species (excluding bacteria and viruses) living on Earth.  40,000 of those are fish.   200,000 are molluscs, 150,000 are crustaceans, 14,000 are echinoderms (sea stars, sea urchins, etc), and several thousand sponges and jellyfishes. 

That's over 404,000 species living in the water...not to mention the insects that lay their eggs in the water...and the plankton.

AND all terrestrial species (that includes us) share water with them.

Isn't the Earth cool?  I know I just threw a lot of numbers at you, but it just goes to show how many living things besides us rely on having clean water.  Makes me even more thankful that some humans (like those that are on our water team in Athens) dedicate their lives to keeping it clean.

Annaliese Ashley-Intern

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Wet Feet: Understanding your water footprint


Everyone has heard of a carbon footprint, but have you heard of a water footprint?  A water footprint is the total amount of direct and indirect water used by an individual or manufacturer.  

Direct water use is when you turn on a faucet or a hose.  Some examples include brushing teeth, showering, flushing the toilet, washing a car, or watering a garden.  
Indirect water is needed to produce, grow, or manufacture the items we use every day. It refers to the water necessary for producing steel for your car, growing cotton for your jeans, and processing your hamburger meat. 

Understanding how you contribute to your water footprint is the first step to creating a culture of conservation and protecting water on a larger scale. For example, did you know that almost 70% of the freshwater withdrawn is used in agriculture to produce everything from beef to wheat? 

Check out this table to learn how much indirect water is used to produce everyday items.
 
Item
Gallons of Water Required to Produce
1 pound of chocolate
3,170
1 pound of beef
1,799
1 gallon of wine
1,008
1 gallon of milk
880
1 gallon of coffee
880
1 gallon of beer
689
1 pound of chicken
468
1 pound of wheat
134
1 gallon of tea
128

Want to dry up your water footprint a little bit?  Here are some things you can do:
 


Reduce Your Indirect Water Use:
  • Switch to a morning cup of tea instead of coffee.  It takes 37 gallons of water to produce an 8oz cup of coffee, but only 8 gallons for the same sized cup of tea.
  • Buy only the food you can eat before it goes bad.  Indirect water is needed to produce fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, and dairy.  Anything you throw away is the same as pouring water (and money!) down the drain.
  • Skip the meat in your meal one day a week.  Depending on how far back you go in the production chain, a hamburger can use up to 1,300 gallons of water to produce.
  • Purchase cloth items made with synthetic materials.  Sheets made of 100% cotton requires 300% more water to produce than a 50/50 cotton/polyester blend.
  • Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.  The less we consume, the less water we use.
Reduce Your Direct Water Use:
  • Drop your used tissues into the trash instead of flushing down the toilet and save gallons each time.
  • Run your dishwasher and clothes washer only when full and save up to 1,000 gallons a month.
  • Turn off the water while brushing your teeth and save 25 gallons of water a month.
  • Save water and cut down on laundry by reusing your bathroom towels to dry off with.
  • Take a shower instead of a bath.  A short shower only uses 10-25 gallons, while a bath takes up to 70 gallons.

We can’t create new water; all the water on the earth is all the water that we will ever have on earth.  
We need to conserve and manage our water in order to meet our water needs now and for future generations. 

Learn about your Water Footprint by visiting one of these two sites: