Where My Water Comes From, Tap VS Bottled

What's up world!(:
   My assignment this week is to find where my homes tap water comes from and research just how safe it is. Most people don't like drinking tap water or believe its not safe, but I am going to compare tap water with bottled water and discuss some of the drawbacks to our oh so convenient water bottles.
   
   Living in  Riverside all I know is that my family has a utility bill just like any other but I wasn't concerned with where Public Utilities was getting our water, just as long as our house had water and electricity we were happy. After living in California all my life I just always thought we were getting our water from the Colorado River, but not my city. To my surprise I learned that Riverside's water supply comes from groundwater resources pumped from local wells in the Bunker Hill, San Bernardino, and Riverside Basins. We have our own water basins! The cities water supply begins as pure rain and snow which is naturally filtered through the sand and gravel of the Bunker Hill and Riverside Basins in San Bernardino and Riverside. This water settles in pools deep in the earth and are then tapped for domestic use by 54 wells operated by Riverside Public Utilities.

    Riverside Public Utility customers, on average use 70 million gallons of water daily!! And YES it is safe water!  Safe in the sense that it will bring no harm to people, however the disinfectants found in our water is not safe for fish to live in. When looking at the annual water quality report I found that most of the things found in our drinking water is naturally present in our environment. Erosion of natural deposits make things like arsenic and uranium present in the water. Chemicals like chlorine are used as a disinfectant and stop bacteria from growing in water pipelines. I also learned that each year Riverside Utilities takes more than 17,000 samples to test for more than 200 possible contaminants in our water system. After our water is rigorously tested by a private laboratory certified by the California Department of Public Health.

   

   According to the website drinktap.org, "Nearly all public water supplies in the United States meet the US Environmental Protection Agency's standards for safe drinking water." The environmental protection agency is in charge of drinking water and they have some strict rules on water quality.

Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974 to protect public health by regulating the nation’s public drinking water supply and  protecting sources of drinking water. The act authorizes EPA to set enforceable health standards for contaminants in drinking water, as well as:

• Requires public notification of water systems violations and annual reports to customers on contaminants found in their drinking water.
• Establishes a federal-state partnership for regulation enforcement.
• Includes provisions specifically designed to protect underground sources of drinking water.
• Requires disinfection of surface water  supplies, except those with pristine, protected sources
• Establishes a multi-billion-dollar state revolving loan fund for water system upgrades.
• Requires an assessment of the vulnerability of all drinking water sources to  contamination.

   According to the International Bottled Water Association, bottled water was the second most popular beverage in the U.S. in 2005, with Americans consuming more than 7.5 million gallons of bottled water. As opposed to our tap water, bottled water which everyone believes to be so much better, is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. The administration has set Current Good Manufacturing Practices specifically for bottled water. They require bottled water producers to:

• Process, bottle, hold and transport bottled water under sanitary conditions.
• Protect water sources from bacteria, chemicals and other contaminants.
• Use quality control processes to ensure the bacteriological and chemical safety of the water.
• Sample and test both source water and the final product for contaminants.

   The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act provides FDA with authority over food that is introduced or delivered into interstate commerce. Under the FD&C Act, manufacturers are responsible for producing safe, wholesome and truthfully labeled food products, including bottled water products. The downfall to water bottles is the plastic they are packaged in. Plastic water bottle are not biodegradable and are made with harmful chemicals. They become unsafe when exposed to heat, leading your water to potentially be contaminated by those harmful chemicals.

 

   Another downside to water bottles is that they cost us money, and bring us and the earth no benefit!

Bottled water can cost 100 times more than tap water, which is brought right to our homes for pennies a gallon. Bottled water also creates its own share of pollution, the production of plastic bottles requires millions of barrels of oil per year and the transportation of bottled water from its source to stores releases thousands of tons of carbon dioxide all for just to have 80 percent of empty water bottles in the nation's landfills.

  

    So there may not be to much difference in the quality of water between tap an bottled, but there is defiantly a difference. We look at water bottles and we think convenience, we are constantly trying to make things more convenient for ourselves, while at the same time we don't see that convenience isn't always better. In the long run bottled water is coming out of our pockets and not benefiting Earth. Tap water is costing us a small amount each month, coming naturally out of  local water basins, and being strictly regulated. The smart choice is obviously to use tap water but there is no way of changing peoples minds, everyone likes the convenience of "PLASTIC" water bottles.
  



Everything we use in our lives comes from the Earth somehow

Hello Everyone!! 
The topic of this week involves the things we use daily, and how many of those things come from the Earth! The assignment was to record items we saw to be or come from "earth resources" for an entire day. At the end of the day, organizing the  items into eight different categories:  Food and drink, Housing and other buildings, Transportation and roads, Clothing, School supplies,  Personal care products, Leisure activities, Other.  After organizing I will choose one item mentioned and elaborate on the item and go into detail telling of things like, what it is made of, and how it is used. Finally reflecting on the entire task at hand and summarizing my findings. And lets just say what I found was surprising!
I recorded my items on Monday October 14th
Food and Drink:

• Water
• Orange juice- Oranges
• Coffee- Coffee Beans
• Doughnut- Flour, sugar, etc.
• Banana
• Apple
• Ham Sandwich (Bread, Ham, Cheese, Mayo, Mustard)- Pig, Cow, Wheat, etc.
• Arizona Iced Tea
• Spanish Rice and Bread (Rice, Cheese, Meat, Tomatoes)- Cow
• Milk- Cow
• Paper plate
• Silver Ware
• Glass Cup
• Aluminum Can

Housing and Other Buildings:

• My house (everything in it)
• Electricity
• Work (Warehouse)
• School (Quad, Math Science Building)

Transportation and Roads:

• My Truck and its different components  
• Gas (petroleum)
• Roads (asphalt)
• Road signs, stop lights
• Approximately 30 miles of driving

Clothing:

• Towel
• Shirt(2)
• Shorts
• Jacket
• Jeans
• Socks/underwear(2)
• Belt
• Sunglasses
• Shoes(Two Pairs)

School Supplies:

• Pen
• Pencil
• Paper
• Binder
• Note book
• Backpack

Personal Care:

• Water
• Bar of Soap
• Body Wash
• Shampoo
• Deodorant
• Body Spray
• Tooth Brush
• Tooth Paste
• Mouth Wash
• Hair Brush

Leisure Activities:

• TV
• Cell Phone
• IPod
• Car Stereo 
• Bed/Couch

Other:

• Wallet
• Money (Coins, Bills)
• Visa Card
• Keys
• Work Knife
• Fiber Glass Adhesive Mesh (Work)
• Foam (Work)
• Fork Lift (Work)
• Propane (Work/Fork Lift Fuel)

     It is amazing how many things you use and come in contact with in one day. When looking really hard at everything you begin to see that almost everything you use has come from the earth some how. Out of all those items in my list I am going to focus on natural gas, what we use to cook with and heat our homes. Natural gas is colorless, shapeless, and odorless in its pure form. Every uninteresting except,  natural gas is combustible, abundant in the United States, and when burned it gives off a great deal of energy and few emissions. Unlike other fossil fuels, natural gas is clean burning and emits lower levels of potentially harmful byproducts into the air.
     We require energy constantly, to heat our homes, cook our food, and generate our electricity. It is this need for energy that has elevated natural gas to such a level of importance in our society, and in our lives. Natural gas is a combustible mixture of hydrocarbon gases. While natural gas is formed primarily of methane, it can also include ethane, propane, butane and pentane. In its purest form, such as the natural gas that is delivered to your home, it is almost pure methane. Methane is a molecule made up of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms, and is referred to as CH4. Found in reservoirs underneath the earth, natural gas is often associated with oil deposits. Production companies search for evidence of these reservoirs by using sophisticated technology that helps to find the location of the natural gas, and drill wells in the earth where it is likely to be found. Once brought from underground, the natural gas is refined to remove impurities such as water, other gases, sand, and other compounds. Some hydrocarbons are removed and sold separately, including propane and butane. After refining, the clean natural gas is transmitted through a network of pipelines, thousands of miles of which exist only  in the United States. From these pipelines, natural gas is delivered to us, where it will be used.
    Natural gas is nothing new, most of it is brought out from under the ground from millions of years old. It was not until recently that methods for obtaining this gas, bringing it to the surface, and putting it to use were developed.Britain was the first country to commercialize the use of natural gas. Around 1785, natural gas produced from coal, being used to light houses, as well as streetlights.
Manufactured natural gas of this type was first brought to the United States in 1816, when it was used to light the streets of Baltimore, Maryland.
     There is an abundance of natural gas in North America, but it is a non-renewable resource. For natural gas to form takes thousands and possibly millions of years. It is important that we understand the availability of our supply of natural gas, as we increase our use of this fossil fuels. As natural gas is essentially irreplaceable, we need to have an idea of how much natural gas is left in the ground for us to use. However it is complicated but no one really knows exactly how much natural gas exists until it is extracted because it is hard measure how much is in the ground. How the world functions, natural gas has become a necessity. So far we have found no other economical alternatives to replace natural gas. Without it, most of the world would be greatly effected, it is how they cook their food, and heat their homes, no to mention all of its other uses.

  This weeks assignment was surprising. Keeping track of all the items I used in a day seemed to be a challenge. I never knew I used and consumed so many things and keeping close record of those things really opened my eyes. People don't realize that almost all of the things in their daily lives come from the earth in some way or another. The assignment opened my eyes to how much I am consuming. To conserve some of the earths resources I need to cut back on my consumption of unneeded goods, fuel, and electricity. The earth has a limited amount of resources, its only a matter of time before we use them all up.

How Green is my Campus??

Hi Everyone!! This weeks post is on how environmentally friendly Riverside City College really is. I will compare it to other colleges in terms of how sustainable it actually is. I'm going to do my best to assess some of the factors that determine how "Green" the campus actually is. Finally I will focus on a specific factor in the campuses sustainability and attempt to create an assessment plan, and show how I would go about completing my plan. I must not focus on improving or fixing any sustainability issues, I am only trying to find the best way in determining how sustainable my campus currently is.
 When I  looked into what our campus is doing to be "Green" I was surprised to find that RCC has already assessed them selves in sustainability and had developed a plan for improvement. Beginning in 2009 Riverside Community College District launched its Green Initiatives with the formation of a District-wide committee.The committee, led by Vice Chancellor, Ray Maghroori, launched their Green Initiatives website to provide information about the District’s growing and successful Green Initiatives Program. http://websites.rcc.edu/greeninitiatives/ On the website I was able to find all kinds of information on how the campus was doing in terms of sustainability. The main thing that I found that RCC was doing was not  only working toward a more green campus but starting with incorporating in the curriculum, and developing courses and programs to prepare students to live as environmentally responsible citizens. I think that having students that are environmentally aware is the first very important step in being a sustainable campus.
    
  There are some things that other campuses have done in the regard of becoming more sustainable that RCC hasn't yet established. Like its neighboring university, UCR for example has its own buses and bus routes for the students. The university is currently adding and expanding, building new environmentally friendly facilities. Universities like UC Berkley for example push hard towards being as green as possible. Many of the campuses buildings are LEED certified which means they are certified by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED is an internationally-recognized green building certification system that provides building owners and operators with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building designs, as well as construction, operations and maintenance solutions. The university even has its very own water center along with recycling and refuse services. The school is currently working on 5 green building projects and has plans to certify 18 more buildings with additional sustainability plans for 25 other buildings.
  While RCC tries to be as environmentally friendly as it can be there is always room for improvement. Some things I would look at in determining how green my campus actually is would be, its energy usage, how environmentally friendly its buildings are, and its waste management. The one thing our campus is doing right is making its students environmentally cautious, so that in turn the campus will eventually make improvements in sustainability. Things like the new community garden at RCC are signs that the campus is moving in the right direction. What I think I would like to assess about how green the campus is, is the buildings and landscape on campus. New buildings like the math and science building are examples of a more environmentally friendly building but RCC is old and I wonder how "Green" some its buildings are.
 First I would find out how many of our buildings on campus are LEED certified, and the exact qualifications needed to make a building certified. The college is nearing its 100 year anniversary and many of the building are out of date. Although it is very cost effective some environmentally friendly remodeling of the campus should be considered. Measurements of the benefits can be seen when comparing RCC to universities like Berkley when looking at their energy usage and how much better there green buildings are for the environment. The U.S. Green Building Counsel would be who to look to for help in improving the sustainability of the buildings on campus. The chancellor of the RCC district would someone to have a deciding role in determining if renovating and remodeling is something the campus would benefit from. The campuses landscape is covered with trees and lots of vegetation, and a proposal that may not be too costly is converting to a water wise landscape. Replacing some of the existing landscape with drought tolerant plants like cacti and succulents and some of the grass with rock and gravel would reduce the usage of water immensely. It is something simple that the campus can gradually work towards and doesn't have to all be done at once. Support for greener buildings and a drought tolerant landscape is something that will not be hard to get because it is a no brainer, greener facilities would be beneficial to not only the environment but to the college, community and everyone involved with RCC. The problem will always be money, which there is none of.
  Campuses like mine all try their best with the resources they are given to be as sustainable as they possibly can be. Yes they can always improve but economically it is impossible to make improvements. What I did learn in some of this research is that most campuses are striving towards sustainability and setting goals for themselves which is really all they can do.

Getting Outside

This week for Environmental Science we had a particularly easy assignment to complete. What we were asked to do, was to go outside somewhere in nature, even our backyard would do just fine, and simply sit and observe the environment around us. Imagining a sphere around ourselves and sitting quietly in nature for  a minimum a 20 minutes, we will take note of the things that we observe. Biotic and abiotic interactions  and relationships are what we were specifically asked to observe. In other words the interactions between living and non-living things. After our observations we are to reflect and describe where we sat.
   The place I chose to observe was about a mile away from my house in the hills where I used to ride motorcycles. I sat beside a creek that I have explored many times in the past. I encountered several different things while sitting and observing, but I really thought in going to the creek that I would see more interaction between things in the environment. I really didn't see many. First off I couldn't help but notice the annoying little insect that was constantly flying around my head while I tried to concentrate on observing my surroundings. The most common form of life I saw were insects. I saw a swarm of little bugs which I believe were nats, all huddled together in a small swarm just flying in circles but still staying in a group. In the creek next to me was a little school of tiny fish, or tadpoles, I really couldn't tell from where I was sitting. They all seemed to be looking for food and swimming down the creek along with the current. There was a dragon fly circling a large distance over my head, he would disappear, and then reappear, flying back and forth but staying in the same area. All sorts of different kinds of plants covered the area, along with rocks and boulders. The rocks that came in contact with the creek were growing moss on them which was a greenish black.
   One thing I found to be kind of funny was that, no matter how far out in the hills I was, I still some how managed to come in contact with another human. It was a man riding by on a motorcycle wondering if everything was okay, and if I needed help. I just awkwardly said, "No, I'm just sitting here doing homework." Then he left no word, just probably wondering what kind homework I'm doing sitting by a creek all by myself. When I began sitting I started with what was in front of me and I gradually began to observe things further and further around me. First was all of the sounds that came with being in the ecosystem of a creek. The sounds of a waterfall in the background, along with the croaking of frogs, and the chirping of crickets. I started to notice that although I was away from people, and in such a nice scenery that still there was a lot of trash. It was scattered throughout the brush and all along where I parked. To add to all the trash in the area, I even saw rocks that had graffiti all over them. To be honest it sucked seeing those kind of things in a place where I used to play as a kid. As I continued to looked around, I saw an interesting rock formation which looked as if a big rock was being held up by a small rock, like something you would see on television. The hills all around me were dry and covered with huge rocks that seemed to be all evenly scattered across the face of the hill. As I was getting ready to leave a bird flew right past my head, then all of a sudden dove to catch something. It was the most action I had seen yet!
   After spending time outside observing I found myself giving a lot of attention to my surrounding and the environment on the way home. Although it was assignment, In a way I felt that it brought me a little closer with nature , and I think sitting outside and observing my environment is something that I am going to do more often.
P.S. I included some pictures of where I chose to observe but I wasn't able to take many before my camera died!!