Summative Assessment

Water Use Project:

*This is the Lab (summative assessment) for Module 1, but you need to start in as soon as possible as you will be recording your water use for a week (see part 1). Please email if you have any questions.

Objectives

In the process of completing this assignment, you will

• record your personal direct water usage for one week
• examine direct and indirect water usage in your daily life
• compare your water usage to average per capita water usage
• analyze your personal water usage habits

Overview

This assignment contains three parts. In Part 1, you will record and tabulate your personal direct water use in a water journal for one week. In Part 2, you will research the indirect water use that goes into producing something you use or consume on a regular basis (for example, food or toilet paper or electricity). For Part 3 of the assignment, you will reflect upon your personal water use and consider what you have learned from this project.

Instructions for Each Part

Part 1: Water Journal

Direct water use is essentially the water you use from the tap every day. This includes water used for drinking, showering, flushing the toilet, brushing teeth, washing dishes, laundry, etc. Record your daily water usage each day for one week using the blank Water Journal template provided below. Calculate your daily and weekly total direct water usage. Be sure to record all of your direct water usage, itemized by time of day, amount of water (in some cases you will need to do a bit of research or estimate your use based on assumptions about water flow for your shower or faucets, or amount used per flush, etc...), and note whether the use is consumptive or non-consumptive.

Download Blank Water Journal as a .docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 7kB Mar28 17) (or .pdf (Acrobat (PDF) 9kB Mar28 17))

Part 2: Indirect Water Use Investigation

Indirect water is the water that goes into manufacturing the products you use and growing the food that you eat. Some indirect water use may be fairly obvious, for example, you know that water is required to grow the oranges for your orange juice. But some of it may be less obvious – what about the water used to make the cardboard carton that holds the juice, or the electricity that powers the juice factory, or the trucks that deliver the juice to the supermarket?

Choose at least one item that you use or consume every day, and research the indirect water usage that goes into producing it. There are many useful resources on the internet to help you do this, for example check out the Product Gallery at Waterfootprint.org. Use this information to estimate the total amount of water consumed in the life cycle of an item from primary production to arrival in your home, and multiply this by the amount of product you use each week. If you like and you have time, you may find it illuminating to research several items you use or consume regularly to see how they compare.

You will turn in a written record of the item or items you are researching, the indirect water use per unit (or unit weight), the amount of product used per week, and the total indirect water use per week. Be sure to provide appropriate citation for the sources of your information.

Part 3: Written Analysis

You will turn in a written analysis of your personal water usage, considered in the context of national and global averages, supply and demand, quality of life, and any other factors that might affect your attitude toward water use. Consider the questions below. Your answers should be given in complete sentences with correct spelling and grammar. The total length of the reflection is not to exceed one single-spaced typewritten page (approximately 500 words).

• What activities account for the bulk of your direct water usage?
• Did you find that there are any daily activities that use much more or less water than you thought?
• When you guessed your direct water use earlier in the module, how close was your estimate to the actual value, now that you've calculated it?
• Consider all of the products you use and food you consume every day. Scaling up from your Indirect Water Use Investigation, do you think you use more water directly or indirectly every day?
• Do you think your accounting in this project is an accurate estimate of your yearly average direct use? Why or why not?
• How does your estimated water use (total direct and indirect) compare to the national per capita average? How does it compare to the global per capita average?
• Do you live in an area where fresh water supply is abundant or limited? How might your water use habits change if you lived elsewhere?
• Has keeping a water journal changed the way you think about your own water use habits in any way?

Worksheet

Download the assignment (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 37kB Mar28 17) to print.

Submitting your assignment

Bring hard copies of the following to turn in class (blended class) or submit online in a dropbox folder in your CMS (world campus):

1. Your completed Water Use Journal
   
2. Your completed Indirect Water Use Investigation
   
3. A written reflection on your own direct and indirect water use
   

Scoring and Rubric

Your summative assessment grade will be based on a possible 100 points using the grading rubric below. How many points you earn out of the total possible for each item will be determined by how completely the item is addressed in your submission.