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Sat 2 Sep, 2017 05:29 am
A water company wants to check that it will have sufficient water if there is a prolonged drought in the area. The region it covers is 500 square miles and various different offices have sent in the following consumption figures. There is sufficient information to calculate the amount of water available, but unfortunately it is in several different units.
Of the total area 100 000 acres are rural land and the rest urban. The density of the urban population is 50 per square kilometre. The average toilet cistern is sized 200mm by 15in by 0.3m and on average each person uses this 3 time per day. The density of the rural population is 5 per square mile. Baths are taken twice a week by each person with the average volume of water in the bath being 6 gallons. Local industry uses 1000 m3 per week. Other uses are estimated as 5 gallons per person per day. A US air base in the region has given water use figures of 50 US gallons per person per day.
The average rain fall in 1in per month (28 days). In the urban area all of this goes to the river while in the rural area 10% goes to the river 85% is lost (to the aquifer) and the rest goes to the one reservoir which supplies the region. This reservoir has an average surface area of 500 acres and is at a depth of 10 fathoms. 10% of this volume can be used in a month.
a) What is the total consumption of water per day?
b) If the reservoir was empty and no water could be taken from the river, would there be enough water if available if rain fall was only 10% of average?