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Hello, welcome to our group!Our topic is water footprint.
on your left you will see our introduction. Take a look and find out who whe are. |
Subquestions for our research:
What is meant by a water footprint? Why does the food you eat greatly influence your water footprint?
Your waterfootprint is defined by almost everything. Everything we eat, use and wear takes water to make, so the more you have of these things the bigger your Waterfootprint. The food you eat counts aswell, the more food you eat, the bigger your waterfootprint will be.
Compare the Dutch and Indian national water footprints.
Average Dutch footprint: 2855 m3/year
Average Indian footprint: 4400 m3/year
What are the most efficient ways to reduce the water footprint in a family?
You can reduce water footprint in a family by trying to use less water, for instance by showering for a shorter amount of time, or not leaving on the tap for too long. When you are grocery shopping, you can try to buy products that don’t need so much water to be produced, and try to buy water-friendly products. Try shopping less, and recycling clothes, because it takes about 8000 L of water to produce an average pair of jeans! Fuel for a car also costs a lot of water to produce, so try to drive less with by using your own car, and try to take public transport or carpool with somebody.
To what extent could you contribute to the reduction of the water footprint of your family?
We need to rethink how we use, and reuse, water and wastewater so that we can make the most of our most essential resource.
We can reduce our water consumption by making small changes to our daily activities such as not watering our lawns as often and taking shorter showers, and we can replace inefficient products in our homes like clothes washers, toilets and showerheads.
We can reuse water in our homes and businesses to the extent possible. One of the easiest and safest way of this concept is the inside use of captured rainwater. We can recycle our wastewater so that it can be used to recharge groundwater supplies.
Your waterfootprint is defined by almost everything. Everything we eat, use and wear takes water to make, so the more you have of these things the bigger your Waterfootprint. The food you eat counts aswell, the more food you eat, the bigger your waterfootprint will be.
Compare the Dutch and Indian national water footprints.
Average Dutch footprint: 2855 m3/year
Average Indian footprint: 4400 m3/year
What are the most efficient ways to reduce the water footprint in a family?
You can reduce water footprint in a family by trying to use less water, for instance by showering for a shorter amount of time, or not leaving on the tap for too long. When you are grocery shopping, you can try to buy products that don’t need so much water to be produced, and try to buy water-friendly products. Try shopping less, and recycling clothes, because it takes about 8000 L of water to produce an average pair of jeans! Fuel for a car also costs a lot of water to produce, so try to drive less with by using your own car, and try to take public transport or carpool with somebody.
To what extent could you contribute to the reduction of the water footprint of your family?
We need to rethink how we use, and reuse, water and wastewater so that we can make the most of our most essential resource.
We can reduce our water consumption by making small changes to our daily activities such as not watering our lawns as often and taking shorter showers, and we can replace inefficient products in our homes like clothes washers, toilets and showerheads.
We can reuse water in our homes and businesses to the extent possible. One of the easiest and safest way of this concept is the inside use of captured rainwater. We can recycle our wastewater so that it can be used to recharge groundwater supplies.
All interviews:
Interview with 2 grandparents (1):
1. Did you have a shower when you were my age? And how long was your average shower?
Grandma Joke: We did not have a shower, I was allowed to shower at school, but only once a week, and at home we filled a tub with water, which needed to be heated up by making a fire. We also sometimes went to a public bathing place, but only once a year maybe.
Grandpa Harry: We did not own a shower at home, we bathed in a tub in our bedrooms.
2. How often did you go shopping?
Grandma Joke: I almost never went shopping, I did work when I was 14 years old, but earned very little. I saved all that money to buy a bicycle.
Grandpa Harry: I went shopping a few times per year, to buy some new shoes and clothes.
3. Did you eat meat? How often?
Grandma Joke: We ate meat almost everyday, but sometimes fish as well.
Grandpa Harry: We did eat meat everyday, but it was a little piece. We ate a lot of meat, because my dad owned a butchery, so we also slaughtered animals ourselves.
4. Did you own a car? If so, how often did you use it?
Grandma Joke: We did not have a car, my father did own a moped.
Grandpa Harry: My father did have a car, but only to deliver meat to our customers, most people did not own a car.
5. Did you recycle?
Grandma Joke: Yes, clothes went from my older sister to me, and from my older brother to my younger brother. Everything that could be re-used was re-used, and food that was left over was given to the animals we owned.
Grandpa Harry: Yes we recycled, old woolen sweaters were torn apart and the wool was re-used to knit a new sweater. We also used old newspapers as toilet paper…
What was approximately the water footprint of your grandparent’s family at the time he/she was your age? Explain.
The water footprint was very low, and most people also did not know about water spilling and how to reduce water usage because it wasn’t an issue back then. The water that is now mostly used for producing clothes, to feed animals for meat, and to shower / bathe wasn’t used, because people recycled very well, and almost didn’t shower. I filled in the water footprint test like my grandparent would have done when they were younger, and my result was 1,473 Gallons per day, which is below the US average of 2,220 Gallons per day. 1,473 gallons is about 3,8 Litres per day.
Interview with 2 grandparents (2):
1. What do you know about water footprint?
Grandmother: “I thought it was about the amount of water a person uses a day”
Grandfather: “I don’t know for sure, but isn’t it about how much water you use for domestic supply’s?”
2. Do you take measures to limit the amount of water you use a day?
Grandmother: “I don’t take a lot of time in the shower, I always try to do it in 5 minutes. I don’t use the dishwasher a lot only after dinner & when we had some visitors, but I do wash small things like glasses myself.”
Grandfather: “The only thing I do is not taking long showers, but that’s not on purpose.”
3. What do you think people in the Netherlands should do to limit the water use?
Grandmother: “I think people should have a timer on some things. For example, you can have a timer on your shower so that after a limited amount of time you can’t shower anymore and because of this less water would be used.
Grandfather: “An option is to just do things more by yourself. You could wash the dishes on your own.
Interview with 10 adults about drinking water:
So I (Rachèl, the group leader) interviewed the people who answered below. I will make clear who they are.Adult 1: mother of Rachèl - Jeannet Adult 2: father of Rachèl - Marco Adult 3: stepsister of Rachèl - Ruby
Adult 4: grandfather of Rachèl - Johan Adult 5: grandmother of Rachèl - Willy Adult 6: cousin of Rachèl - Sharona
Adult 7: aunt of Rachèl - Lianne Adult 8: aunt of Rachèl - Willemien Adult 9: cousin of Rachèl - Ruben
Adult 10: acquaintance of Rachèl - Jack
1. How much water do you drink on average a day? (this is not exactly)
Adult 1: 1.5 litres Adult 6: 1.5 litres
Adult 2: 1 litres Adult 7: 0.5 litres
Adult 3: 2 litres Adult 8: 2 litres
Adult 4: 0.5 litres Adult 9: 1 litres
Adult 5: 1 litres Adult 10: 1 litres
2. When you want to drink water do you drink water out of the tap or out of bottles from the store? And why?
Adult 1: Tap “It’s cheaper I think instead of buying a bottle of water.”
Adult 2: Tap “I already have a tap so it’s not logic for me to buy water from the store.”
Adult 3: Bottle “My husband has hosophobia so he doesn’t like us to drink out of the tap.”
Adult 4: Tap “We have clean drinking water, so it would be waste of my money.”
Adult 5: Tap “Bottles would take more space than a tap that I already have & it’s not as expensive I think.”
Adult 6: Bottle “Some people think it’s weird but for me water from the store taste different than water from the tap. I prefer bottles of water based on taste.
Adult 7: Tap “I don’t see any benefits in buying bottles of water instead of using the tap, so that’s why.
Adult 8: Tap “I like to invest my money in other stuff than investing it in water from the store.
Adult 9: Tap “Its way cheaper out of a tap.”
Adult 10: Tap “Water in bottles are too expensive while it shouldn’t be that high.”
3. Do you know how clean your drinking water is?
Adult 1: “Well I don’t really know how clean our drinking water is but I believe that it’s well filtered and clean.”
Adult 2: “I never heard something bad about water we drink out of our tap, so that’s how I know it’s clean
Adult 3: “I think it’s not that clean, although the water companies may think they clean it well. I believe that there may be some chemicals in it and that they don’t check that as well as it should have been done.”
Adult 4: “The water companies are responsible for this so we have to just trust them. So I know it’s clean because they say it, but I don’t know it accurate.”
Adult 5: “I believe that I read something that GenX is in our drinking water and that it may be harmful, but I don’t know for sure anymore.”
Adult 6: “I actually don’t know.”
Adult 7: “If drinking water in the Netherlands would be contaminated I think we would have been informed. Maybe it isn’t as clean as we think but it isn’t harmful.”
Adult 8: “The government and some companies hopefully knows it and I fully trust them, so that’s how I know.”
Adult 9: “I can’t really answer this question, because I actually don’t know.”
Adult 10: “I know it because it has been said to me that it’s clean and they did not say it was harmful.”
1 day of reducing the water footprint in each family:
Rachèl:
What were my ideas of how to reduce the water footprint in our own house?
1. We’re going to wash the dishes all by ourselves and don’t use the dishwasher for it, but only 1 time this day.
2. There’s a limited amount of time in the shower. You are allowed to shower for 6 minutes, not any longer and only once.
3. Laundry has to be fully loaded and can only be done for one time this day.
4. When you brush your teeth you can’t leave the tap open.
5. No shaving today! I think that one day won’t be a problem
6. Make sure all taps are closed will and are not dripping.
7. When you want to have cold water but the water is still warm, then just fill that glass with warm water and put it in the fridge
How did it work out?
At first my family didn’t agree with all of this, but I kept on whining and after a few minutes they accepted it. Although we all did not like these ideas we actually did pretty well. My mother and I accidentally showered a bit longer than 6 minutes, it was about 8, but that was the only rule we broke. On this day I observed everybody if they wouldn’t break the rules, but they didn’t so I’m very proud.
How did my family react on it?
As I already said my family did not like this idea at all, at first they did not agree with reducing the water for 1 day. For the reason that I was a bit annoying, they accepted it after all. So here are the reactions by my family.
Jeannet (mother Rachèl): “my thoughts at the beginning were: I like the idea of reducing the water footprint, but I do not like the ideas Rachèl came up with. Although the 6 minute shower rule was horrible, it wasn’t that bad after all. Maybe everyone should do this once a month, so it reduces the water footprint.”
Wessel (brother of Rachèl): “I think it wasn’t really a problem to follow these rules, but in normal life were just a bit lazy and that’s why it seems so difficult for us to follow the rules. With this being said I did not say I like it, because I didn’t and I’m a lazy person. So I hope we won’t do this again, however I think the idea behind it is good.”
My reaction: I did not like the ideas of not using the dishwasher and to take showers of 6 minutes, but I did learn something from it. That’s for the reason that I did not have any problems with these rules, it worked out just fine and made me see how spoiled we actually are and how happy we have to be with that, because some people can’t live their life’s like we do, whom has it way worse.
Yara:
Me and my family tried to reduce the water footprint in our home for one day, Monday the 29th of February. We were really curious how this would turn out! When the day started, my sister showered shorter, for only 5 minutes, instead of more. As I shower in the evening, and so does the rest of my family, we had breakfast, which was just like an ordinary day. I went to school by bike, like I always do, but my mom usually drives to her work. This day, she carpooled with a friend, to save gas. My father cycled to his work, but he always does that. My mom went shopping for groceries that afternoon, and she really looked at the products, and if they were water-friendly, before she bought it. We cooked while trying to turn off the tap when it wasn’t used, and didn’t turn on the dishwasher for this evening. Later, when I showered I also did that in a very short amount of time, and so did my parents. While brushing my teeth, I didn’t put on the tap, and my sister also only did for a very short amount of time, and then the day was already finished!
This day really opened my and my family’s eyes, because we noticed how easy it is to save water. We will certainly try to keep saving water, because it isn’t that much work!
Sem:
My family and I tried to reduce the water footprint for one day. My first ideas were, that reducing water in showering and bathing wouldn’t be that difficult. Well on the 29th of January my family and I were going to test if we could reduce the use of water. When I woke up, I was going to wash my hands and my face. I did this in a short amount of time and I only opened the tap shortly. After that I had breakfast, following I was going to brush my teeth, usually I leave the tap open when brushing my teeth, but now I only opened it shortly. My other family members did all of this too. Then it was time to go to school, me and my sister always cycle to school, my little brother does too most of the time. My father drives to his work with the car, because he works in Rotterdam. When we’re all home again, we most of the time take some time to relax and after my sister and I make our homework and learn for a test. Everyone in my family bathes in the evening, most of us go in the bathtub. I think that reduces water too, because if you shower a long time, it costs a lot of water. Me and my brother used the same bath and my sister only showered for 5 minutes. Later that evening I brush my teeth and go to bed.
Harmen:
Tuesday the 30th of January I tried reducing my waterfootprint for a day. In the morning I brushed my teeth without leaving on the tap. When I go to school I always cycle, so there wasn't a way to improve that. I only ate food that was better to improve my waterfootprint and I washed the dishes by hand, instead of using a machine to do it for me. When I went to bed I showerd for a shorter amount of time, around 5-10 minutes at most, and brushed my teeth after I showered. I tried to get my parents involved as much as I could to reduce our waterfootprint, however I didn't get any real results from them.
This day was a real challenge as I kept on forgetting that I was trying to reduce my waterfootprint. I do think that in the end I got real results, and I was surprised how easy it actually was to save water/reduce your waterfootprint.
What were my ideas of how to reduce the water footprint in our own house?
1. We’re going to wash the dishes all by ourselves and don’t use the dishwasher for it, but only 1 time this day.
2. There’s a limited amount of time in the shower. You are allowed to shower for 6 minutes, not any longer and only once.
3. Laundry has to be fully loaded and can only be done for one time this day.
4. When you brush your teeth you can’t leave the tap open.
5. No shaving today! I think that one day won’t be a problem
6. Make sure all taps are closed will and are not dripping.
7. When you want to have cold water but the water is still warm, then just fill that glass with warm water and put it in the fridge
How did it work out?
At first my family didn’t agree with all of this, but I kept on whining and after a few minutes they accepted it. Although we all did not like these ideas we actually did pretty well. My mother and I accidentally showered a bit longer than 6 minutes, it was about 8, but that was the only rule we broke. On this day I observed everybody if they wouldn’t break the rules, but they didn’t so I’m very proud.
How did my family react on it?
As I already said my family did not like this idea at all, at first they did not agree with reducing the water for 1 day. For the reason that I was a bit annoying, they accepted it after all. So here are the reactions by my family.
Jeannet (mother Rachèl): “my thoughts at the beginning were: I like the idea of reducing the water footprint, but I do not like the ideas Rachèl came up with. Although the 6 minute shower rule was horrible, it wasn’t that bad after all. Maybe everyone should do this once a month, so it reduces the water footprint.”
Wessel (brother of Rachèl): “I think it wasn’t really a problem to follow these rules, but in normal life were just a bit lazy and that’s why it seems so difficult for us to follow the rules. With this being said I did not say I like it, because I didn’t and I’m a lazy person. So I hope we won’t do this again, however I think the idea behind it is good.”
My reaction: I did not like the ideas of not using the dishwasher and to take showers of 6 minutes, but I did learn something from it. That’s for the reason that I did not have any problems with these rules, it worked out just fine and made me see how spoiled we actually are and how happy we have to be with that, because some people can’t live their life’s like we do, whom has it way worse.
Yara:
Me and my family tried to reduce the water footprint in our home for one day, Monday the 29th of February. We were really curious how this would turn out! When the day started, my sister showered shorter, for only 5 minutes, instead of more. As I shower in the evening, and so does the rest of my family, we had breakfast, which was just like an ordinary day. I went to school by bike, like I always do, but my mom usually drives to her work. This day, she carpooled with a friend, to save gas. My father cycled to his work, but he always does that. My mom went shopping for groceries that afternoon, and she really looked at the products, and if they were water-friendly, before she bought it. We cooked while trying to turn off the tap when it wasn’t used, and didn’t turn on the dishwasher for this evening. Later, when I showered I also did that in a very short amount of time, and so did my parents. While brushing my teeth, I didn’t put on the tap, and my sister also only did for a very short amount of time, and then the day was already finished!
This day really opened my and my family’s eyes, because we noticed how easy it is to save water. We will certainly try to keep saving water, because it isn’t that much work!
Sem:
My family and I tried to reduce the water footprint for one day. My first ideas were, that reducing water in showering and bathing wouldn’t be that difficult. Well on the 29th of January my family and I were going to test if we could reduce the use of water. When I woke up, I was going to wash my hands and my face. I did this in a short amount of time and I only opened the tap shortly. After that I had breakfast, following I was going to brush my teeth, usually I leave the tap open when brushing my teeth, but now I only opened it shortly. My other family members did all of this too. Then it was time to go to school, me and my sister always cycle to school, my little brother does too most of the time. My father drives to his work with the car, because he works in Rotterdam. When we’re all home again, we most of the time take some time to relax and after my sister and I make our homework and learn for a test. Everyone in my family bathes in the evening, most of us go in the bathtub. I think that reduces water too, because if you shower a long time, it costs a lot of water. Me and my brother used the same bath and my sister only showered for 5 minutes. Later that evening I brush my teeth and go to bed.
Harmen:
Tuesday the 30th of January I tried reducing my waterfootprint for a day. In the morning I brushed my teeth without leaving on the tap. When I go to school I always cycle, so there wasn't a way to improve that. I only ate food that was better to improve my waterfootprint and I washed the dishes by hand, instead of using a machine to do it for me. When I went to bed I showerd for a shorter amount of time, around 5-10 minutes at most, and brushed my teeth after I showered. I tried to get my parents involved as much as I could to reduce our waterfootprint, however I didn't get any real results from them.
This day was a real challenge as I kept on forgetting that I was trying to reduce my waterfootprint. I do think that in the end I got real results, and I was surprised how easy it actually was to save water/reduce your waterfootprint.
www.waterfootprint.org
Results of Rachèl's family:
total water footprint = 817 cubic meter per year
food = 658 cubic meter per year
domestic = 147 cubic meter per year
Industrial = 12 cubic meter per year
Results of Yara's family:
1930 gallons of water for Yara herself
8703 gallons of water for Yara's family
total water footprint = 817 cubic meter per year
food = 658 cubic meter per year
domestic = 147 cubic meter per year
Industrial = 12 cubic meter per year
Results of Yara's family:
1930 gallons of water for Yara herself
8703 gallons of water for Yara's family
Main question and our conclusion:
Main question was...
Is it possible to reduce your water footprint or the water footprint of your family by more than 20%?
our conclusion about it...
It takes a lot of effort to do so and also a lot of time. When you want to reduce it we think you especially have to eat less meat, diary products and other products, because a lot of yourwater footprint depends on the amount you eat and what you eat. What would also help is adding some energy saving machines, for example a energy saving dishwasher instead of a normal one.
Is it possible to reduce your water footprint or the water footprint of your family by more than 20%?
our conclusion about it...
It takes a lot of effort to do so and also a lot of time. When you want to reduce it we think you especially have to eat less meat, diary products and other products, because a lot of yourwater footprint depends on the amount you eat and what you eat. What would also help is adding some energy saving machines, for example a energy saving dishwasher instead of a normal one.
Reflection:
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The videoconferences:
The first videoconference went well. There were no long pauses of silence in between questions and we could hear them well and we think they could hear us well. The second videoconference was a bit different, the connection was worse this time, it wasn't too bad after all. Some people of our group may could have said a bit more, but we did not talk about that at the start, so next time we should do so.
Research:
We divided all the tasks that were on the research. With this there was no problem and everyone accepted what they had to do. So it was hard to reach the deadline because some things were sent at the last moment. The groupleader underrestimated what she had to do to put it on weebly, so things got a bit messed up. So what we'll do next time is to make sure every question is answered way before the deadline, so the groupleader can calmly put this all together.
The first videoconference went well. There were no long pauses of silence in between questions and we could hear them well and we think they could hear us well. The second videoconference was a bit different, the connection was worse this time, it wasn't too bad after all. Some people of our group may could have said a bit more, but we did not talk about that at the start, so next time we should do so.
Research:
We divided all the tasks that were on the research. With this there was no problem and everyone accepted what they had to do. So it was hard to reach the deadline because some things were sent at the last moment. The groupleader underrestimated what she had to do to put it on weebly, so things got a bit messed up. So what we'll do next time is to make sure every question is answered way before the deadline, so the groupleader can calmly put this all together.