Martha Hernandez

ENVS 1 9/4/13
Los Angeles Water.
1. What do you think about that?
I can agree with the message of the article in regards that we are not aware of
the emergency that it is to be upon us, because we as a population most of the
time we expect the government to provide and come up with solutions to make
our life easier. It is the government`s responsibility to look out for our well-being,
but we must keep in mind that our responsibility as individuals is to help
ourselves as well. We often get caught up in our busy daily life such as school,
work and personal problems that we forget about protecting our environment.
L.A. wastes thousands of water everyday and we never think of the
consequences these actions will cause in the future. I feel that most of the L.A.
population has no clue where we obtain our water and neglect the idea that very
soon we will have a hard time obtaining this crucial liquid.
2. How do you know if they are reflecting the truth?
The article provides us with facts, pictures and research that have been done.
The article may not be 100% accurate in statistics but it does provide the truth in
regards to our current water situation. Many other researches can agree that our
resources of water are becoming scarce, not only in Los Angeles but in many
parts of the world. I was able to find hundreds of articles on the Internet that also
point out the dangers that L.A has and will have in regards to its water resources.
Part 2.
3. Where does the water in your community come from?
The water in the city of Huntington Park comes from the State Water Project, the
Colorado River and from the Ground Water.
4. How easy was to find the water report from your area?
It was quite easy finding the water report for my area but it takes time to
understand every single part of it.
5. What was the level of Nitrate in your water?
The level of Nitrate of my water was 10 mg, the range was average.
6. What happens if the nitrate level is too high?
When too much nitrate is available in the water, it can be very harmful for
humans especially for infants. A disease called Methemoglobiemia can occur to
babies of 6 months old or less. It also may include the presence of farm
chemicals and even pesticides. Nitrate is crucial for plants and they are in charge

to absorb it but heavy rain or irrigation may lead the Nitrate to ground water.
While this is normal, human made pesticides and fertilizers that are already
added to plants containing high amounts of Nitrate will also lead to ground water.
7. What was the most alarming thing in your water and why did it alarm
you?
I found it very alarming to know that my community water scored High in
Bromate. According to www.health.ny.gov long term exposure to Bromate in
water caused cancer in laboratory rats. I feel very unsafe knowing that the water
I`m drinking can cause such tragic disease.
8. Are you satisfied with your water quality?
As I was looking through the water quality report, I realized that while most of the
levels are average, the numbers appear to be leaning towards the high levels
rather than low. For example, in nitrate the water scored 10mg,that is the border
limit that defines between average and high, of course that is a concern that
should not be ignored.
Part 3.
9. What is your water footprint?
Gallons of water used daily in my home are 1433, the U.S. average is 2088. I
scored less than average.
10. Create graphs

L.A County Water Usage

30,000,000,000
25,000,000,000
20,000,000,000
15,000,000,000
10,000,000,000
5,000,000,000
0

Gallons of
Water Used

1911

1961

2011

2061

2111

2161

World Water Usage

30,000,000,000,000
25,000,000,000,000
20,000,000,000,000
15,000,000,000,000
10,000,000,000,000
5,000,000,000,000
0

Gallons of
Water Used

1911

1961

2011

2061

2111

2161

11. When will (did) we pass the local carrying capacity upon your
consumption?
If the population of L.A County is about 9.889 millions of people, if each uses
my consumption of 1433 gallons of water a day, that is 14,170,937,000 gallons
of water everyday.
As per the world that consists of 7 billion people, the number of gallons of
water used everyday is 10,031,000,000,000.
Earth only has 2.5 % of fresh water available for human consumption, while
the other 98.5 % is located at the seas. According to the website
www.science.howstuffworks.com

there are 326,000,000,000,000,000,000 can be

found
on
our
planet.
The
2.5%
of
that
would
be
8,150,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water. We have not yet passed our
carrying capacity according to my calculations but considering that the
world population keeps on growing and many people use on average 2088
in the U.S. and not 1433 like I do, then chances are we will be passing our
carrying capacity in the next 10 years or less.
12. How does this information reflect upon the global water crisis reflected
in the Nature`s Global Water Crisis Site?
According to this website, approximately 1 billion of people lack the access of
fresh water already, by the next 2 decades the water supply will drop by one
third. So basically if water is already being extinct from the world, we are already

in serious trouble. If this prediction is true out of the 6 billion people that have
fresh water supply as of 2013, in the next two decades 2 billion more people will
lack this liquid plus the 1 billion people that does not have this supply.
13. How can we achieve sustainability with regards to water as a source?
In my opinion, I believe that there are numerous ways we as individuals can
incorporate to achieve sustainability in regards to water, some of these may
include;
1. Taking less time showering, & turning off the water while shampooing,
scrubbing or shaving.
2. Consuming less meat including poultry, beef and pork. Making meat requires
thousands of gallons of water.
3. Only water the plants when necessary. If rain is available use that as a source.
4. Try not to dirty our clothes so they can be worn again and do not wash so
often, only the necessary.
5. Avoid using the dishwasher, and do not use dishes for every small meal.
Even though there are other important ways to save water, these above are
crucial when it comes to water saving.