Waste Water: The Where and the Why ?

So looking at the map of NYC wastewater treatment plants, I discovered my local wastewater treatment plant on Staten Island is Number 8 in Port Richmond. This plant processes 60 million gallons per day. Upon some internet digging, I learned that it had opened in 1953 and has been processing waste water ever since then, however, not without its faults. It was notorious for some terrible spills including one in 1988 when the wastewater spilled into Kill Van Kull and the NY Harbor. In 2015, this plant had a $30 million dollar upgrade (new boilers and solar panels) to make it both more energy efficient. This also reduces pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, one step closer to the 2050 goal of having a net-zero energy use in the city’s wastewater plants.

Knowing that I thought more about my own water consumption and where I fit into the network of water use in NYC. I thought about how much I use water every day, in the bathroom, kitchen, cooking, etc. I ended up taking two different online calculators to tell me how much my household uses water and had come to the conclusion that my household uses less water (80 per capita gallons of water per day vs the average 207 per capita gallons of water per day) than the average simply due to some everyday practices. For me specifically, my water consumption is pretty low since by nature I take very short and cool showers and limit my everyday water usage. My highest water consumption, aside from bathroom things, is cooking/washing dishes since I cook nearly every day and my plants surprisingly. I’ve always been aware of my water consumption simply because when I go back to the Philippines we have a limited water supply per day and per week. given these situations, I’ve been raised to understand my own personal water consumption on a daily basis.