Drinking Water in Ithaca

Reinemarie Ayers, Ithaca, NY
3rd Place, Middle School Category
Immaculate Conception School

Drinking water, what is it exactly? Drinking water is a resource that is the carrying capacity of the Earth. Water is a big resource to all organisms on Earth. Of course, there is not enough water for everyone to have fresh water in their homes every time people turn on the faucet or shower head.

Where does your water come from? Water is reused over and over again. Some places in Ithaca pump water from Cayuga Lake to Bolton Municipal Water System. For example Ithaca College has water like that. When water is wasted it is sent to a water treatment plant and after it is treated it is sent back to Cayuga Lake where the water will go through the water treatment steps again.

How was your water made drinkable? There are many words that can confuse people like water treatment plant and a water system. A water treatment plant is a plant that treats water and sends it to water pipes and then sends it to places all over Ithaca. A water system is a place that makes water drinkable and healthy. When water is wasted it is sent to a water treatment plant. When the water is at the water treatment plant it is treated. There are many steps to making water drinkable. The first step is the adding of chemicals to distinguish microorganisms and other bad things. Then, the water is mixed together to distribute more chemicals. Next, that the water is flowed into large basins where water is turned into heavier particles called flocculation. After, the water is moved into other basins where chemicals flow to the bottom. Then, that the water flows through anthracite coal, sand, and gravel where chemicals did not settle so they get removed from the water. Next, the chlorine is added to the distribution system and the pH is adjusted to the metal pipe figures. These are the steps to make your water good and healthy for you to drink. This is important to know because most people don't know what happens to people's water before it reaches them.

What can you do to conserve your water? There are many things to do to conserve water. You can take shorter showers. By doing this you are saving water instead of letting it keep running while you are standing there. Another thing you can do is turn off faucet when brushing your teeth or washing your face. By not letting the water run you are saving water for later use. Another thing you can do to preserve your water is to put it in large jugs and saving it for future uses instead of using it now. By saving it, if you were caught in a storm where your water had to be turned off you had some extra water stored. Now if you never had that water what would you do? It is a really big decision. Other ways you can preserve water are by only doing full loads of laundry instead of doing three shirts per load. Finally, a good way to preserve water is by washing dishes by hand rather by dishwasher because washing dishes by hand uses less water.

It is important to keep sources clean so everyone can have a healthy environment to live in. Think of what you can to preserve water instead of wasting it and when you think of it don't be afraid to just do it. It will help you and your environment.