The Average Waste of Water

Introduction/ Purpose
Water is a molecule consisting of two hydrogen atoms and one atom of oxygen. Upon heating these two atoms together to a high temperature, the two atoms combine together to form water. The scientific way of writing this molecule is H2O. It is often referred to as natures natural solvent. One witnesses water in three forms almost everyday. The first form is that of vapor, such as the steam produced when cooking. Another form of water is solid, as in ice. The third form that water occurs is liquid, such as in a lake, ocean, bath, or beverage. Second to oxygen, water is one of the most important needs of living things. It is even said that water is the lifeblood of Earth. There are so many reasons as to why water is essential. One must drink water to stay healthy; it is required for cooking, cleaning, putting out fires, the transport of cargo and people via submarines, ships, and boats. The survival of marine life is based on water. Over fifty percent of the human body is comprised of water and more than seventy five percent of the earth is made up of water.

Hypothesis
A dripping faucet is a significant factor in water waste. The purpose of this experiment was to observe and gather data regarding water from a dripping faucet. Often times one may notice a faucet left dripping, or an under cabinet pipe drip. However, outside of figuring the costs of repairing the issue, many do not consider how much water is wasted over time from a slow leak. While conducting this lab a faucet was cut on to a drip and observed for ten minutes in five sets of two minute increments. Each two minute increment was calculated at the equivalent of one hour. During the ten minute observation a total of five graduated cylinders were utilized with one cylinder at a time being placed under the faucet and rotated out for an empty cylinder every two minutes approximately. The amount of water collected was at a consistent drip, but yet a considerable amount was collected in such a small time frame.

Materials
Blackberry Curve TI-84 Plus Water fountain Water Digital Scale Beaker Erlenmeyer flask Graduated Cylinder

Procedure
A water faucet was cut on until a slow and steady drip began. One of the five cylinders was placed under the dripping faucet and remained until the passing of two minutes. Approximately after two minutes had passed per the blackberry clock, the second graduated cylinder was placed immediately under the faucet while simultaneously switching out the initial cylinder. This process was repeated three additional times until all five graduated cylinders contained two minutes worth of collected water. An empty beaker was placed onto the digital scale. The time on the scale was set equal to zero once the weight of the beaker alone was registered. The water collected into the first graduated cylinder was poured carefully into the beaker. The water within the beaker was weighed, measured, of which the data from both the weight and measurement was recorded. Once recorded, the water from the beaker was poured back into its original graduated cylinder. Repeat steps five through nine, four additional times with the four remaining graduated cylinders.

Analysis & Results & Data

Table 1 Actual data collected during experiment
Time (min) Time (hours) mL(min) mL (hours) Total mL collected Weight of H2O (g) calculated 22 22 21 22 22 Actual Weight of H2O(g) from scale 21.1 20.7 20.6 21 21.1 104.5

Total

2 4 6 8 10 10

1 2 3 4 5 5

22 22 21 22 22 109

660 660 630 660 660 3270

660 1320 1950 2610 3270 3270

Table 2 Data used in Graph 1

Time (Hours) 1 2 3 4 5 Total mL collected 660 660 630 660 660

Graph 1
Total Water Collected
700 600 Total mL 500 400 300 200 100 0 1 T ime (Hours) 2 3 Time (hours) 4 5 T otal mL collected T ime (Hours) 660 660 660 660

630

The data collected and reflected above shows a steady and constant drip as seen in Graph 2. Per Table 1, one observes that within a five hour time frame that 3270 milliliters of water collected and that this is a number that increased with each additional hour. One could assume that as time goes on the drip will remain consistent, or it could be assumed that as time goes on the drip may increase due to the constant wear on the pipe.

Conclusion
Overall, this lab supports the idea that a leaky and unaddressed faucet can be a costly, unnecessary, and wasteful use of water. If observed over the course of a week, month, or a year the results would be astounding as well as devastating to just one arena in which humans contribute to the deterioration of our environment. This observation would become even more profound if a survey was conducted as to homes with leaks. This does not even take into consideration the other ways water is wasted within a home, be it from running a shower with no one it, pools, or washing cars. Hopefully with the observation and participation in this lab, one will become more conscience to the role he or she plays in the waste of earths most valuable resource.