Abstracts

Abstract

This paper was about Lubbock water. We were a group in the class, ESL5301 Advanced Writing, and this paper was our final assignment. In the introduction, background knowledge, literature review and how people thought in general were provided. Furthermore, we had done 150 surveys, and translated the outcomes into charts to make the data more easily digested. According to those charts, we found some interesting points that we could discuss. They were the most challengeable and interesting parts in the paper. The paper would give deeper aspects in Lubbock water after you read them. (S.Y.H.)

Abstract

This report is about the study that we did with 150 people and their perception about the water crisis in the city of Lubbock. We used questionnaires to collect the data. In the questionnaires we included specific questions, to give us a clearer idea of the perceptions of the people, besides separating our population into male and female, Texans, non-Texans and internationals, also students and non-Students. Most of the questionnaires were done within Texas Tech University, and it was eight surveys per person. The total of the questionnaires was carefully analyzed with the aim of being as objective as possible. The results were interpreted with graphs, in which we find different results to each of our questions. This indicates to us that there are differences in what people think, and how concerned they are about the water crisis in the city of Lubbock, and with these results we respond to our hypotheses and give the reader actual information. Who is more informed about this issue? Who is more concerned? Besides who really is willing to do something to save water? These are questions we must answer in order to find and propose real and workable solutions. (J.P.)

Abstract

This paper reports the study of 150 people's perception about water crisis in the city of Lubbock. We used questionnaires to gather the information. We brought some specific questions to confirm our hypotheses about the differences in perceptions among males and females, Texans, non-Texans, students and non-students. We tried to get eight people each person, and except for a few of them, most of them were in Texas Tech University.  All 150 completed surveys were analyzed. We used the quantitative method and provided some charts for questions. We interpreted our results from the excel program, and used its charts. We found different results for each hypothesis and question. Our findings indicated that there were some differences among people's attitudes in manifold issues. (S.H.)

Abstract

            Survey method was applied in a class research project, ESL 5301 at Texas Tech University, to explore if residents in the area of Lubbock, Texas, had a positive perception towards water issues and whether there was any difference in men's and women's perception, or students' and non-students' attitude about water conservation. 150 surveys were delivered to residents primarily on the Texas Tech University campus by seventeen members of the research group. Data were synthesized by using Microsoft Excel software. The result showed that people had a positive perception towards water issues in the area with a slight difference between male and female subjects' attitudes. Student and non-student population also made reverse outcomes in which non-student subjects exposed a knowledge about water issues in the area, whereas student subjects were slightly less experienced about those issues. Future studies should focus on experiments to elucidate these initial explorations. (D.P.)

Abstract

Water crisis is an important natural resource issue several parts of the USA, and our focus is the City of Lubbock in Texas. Inherent in many natural and people related issues is the causal link between water facts and conservation behaviors that affect water quality and quantity. This article interprets the results of a survey on attitudes and perceptions of Lubbock water crisis from random 150 people in Lubbock’s population. The goal of the survey was to assess attitudes and perceptions of water crisis and how people are aware of that, and factors affecting them. We assess the influence of attitudes and perceptions regarding the gender, Texan, non-Texan and internationals and students and non-students. We found several statistically significant non-knowledge factors that showed awareness of Lubbock water crisis: perceived awareness of water between women and men, and between Texan and non-Texan; interest in certain types of water issues (for example fracking); general environmental attitudes; and demographics. These results highlight the importance of a number of non-knowledge factors in water crisis, and suggest a number of factors that could inform targeted approaches to influence differing audiences. (S.G.)

Abstract

             In this report, we did a research survey to find out how much people are aware of dangers of water problems and what information they know about the water problems in order to overcome the water crisis in Lubbock, Texas. As found by research surveys, Americans from Texas were not sure of their knowledge. They knew some information but not in detail. In addition, female participants were more knowledgeable about Lubbock water; and they considered environmental issues more than males. Unlike when I expected, student and non-student participants knew very similarly about Lubbock water and information. And also, only a few Americans from Texas agreed with restrictions for farmers, yet others were less concerned about restrictions for farmers in Lubbock. Last, the most important issue that participants thought about was water pollution.  (-MK)

Abstract
It is a common idea that in Texas and Colorado, the water resources have declined in recent years. And we were a group which was doing a research study in order to find out how people felt about the Lubbock water situation. We did a survey about the situation of water in Lubbock, and by analyzing this survey, we find out that there are some different views between men and women; students and non-students; Texas residents and international residents. (-KQ)

Abstract

This paper reports on a study of peoples’ attitudes and awareness of the Lubbock water crisis. Conclusions are made based on the data from a survey of one hundred and fifty people within the TTU community. This paper presents the differences and similarities of attitudes and awareness between students and non-students, males and females, and the Texans and non-Texans. Furthermore, possible reasons for such results are discussed in the discussion section. Finally, the paper concludes that controlling Lubbock’s water crisis will not be a big problem with peoples’ support considering the results about the perception of Lubbock’s people. (-C.D.)

Abstract

Almost no information exists regarding public perceptions and attitudes toward water in Lubbock. This study fills in this gap by providing information about attitudes of people in Lubbock from survey data. From these data, women in Lubbock were found to express greater concerns for the local environmental issues than men. However, men and women were equally concerned about global environmental issues. Those who were more knowledgeable about Lubbock water supply were found to be more likely to support restrictions both for farmers and for the city than those who were not knowledgeable. Texans were found to be more likely to support water restrictions both for the city and for farmers than non-Texans. In fact, the majority of Texans supported water restrictions. We also found that students and non-students were equally worried about Lubbock’s ability to get water in the future. (-HS)

Abstract

A large number of cities in West Texas are experiencing one of the worst droughts in the last hundred years; Lubbock, one of the bigger cities in this area, is no different. Lubbock’s water supplies have historically varied between groundwater and surface water. The City of Lubbock would like its people to believe that the water situation is a manageable. This belief is also of paramount importance to the city’s current and future growth. This belief though has to be thoroughly verified and validated, because of the various conflicting data that is available. Our research would help determine whether the city’s population has been actively keeping up with the water crisis. The survey found that Women in general and specifically Texan women specifically tried to conserve water.  The number of Texans blaming the oil drillers for using more resources then they should be was obviously higher in comparison to the non-Texan and internationals. A higher percentage of the internationals students surveyed thought that the Lubbock’s water resources were endangered and hence were worried. There were a few of the limitations of the survey that can be overcome with better planning and resources. (-R.S)

Abstract

This paper studied the water crisis in the City of Lubbock and how well people know about fracking and its environmental impacts on the public water supplies. This study was conducted by the ESL 5301 class in fall, 2013. After an extensive background study and survey data analysis, we concluded that the engineering education level could affect the knowledge of people on fracking and its impacts. Moreover, we found out that how well people know about fracking depends on geography. People from Texas, where a lot of fracking wells are operating, tend to know more about fracking and its impacts than non-Texans. (-C.L.)

 

Final SYH

Abstract

This paper was about Lubbock water. We were a group in the class, ESL5301 Advanced Writing, and this paper was our final assignment. In the introduction, background knowledge, literature review and how people thought in general were provided. Furthermore, we had done 150 surveys, and translated the outcomes into charts to make the datum digest easier. According to those charts, we found some interesting points that we could discuss. They were the most challengeable and interesting part in the paper. The paper would give deeper aspects in Lubbock water after you read them.

Introduction

In the middle of America, the climate is known as dry and hot most of the time. Of course, Texas is also the same. If some regions have little rain, areas must have water shortage unless they contain underground water. Due to this kind of climate, the water resource is more precious, and people should truly care about water. Hence, I was going to talk about the water in Lubbock. We would not only generally speak of the situation of water in Lubbock but also make hypotheses and study about how the public thinks in the end.

      According to the news and resources that we had, the water situation in Lubbock did not look optimistic. We had three sources of water in 2011, but there had become only one in 2012. Therefore, the ex-mayor of Lubbock came out and announced to the public about limiting and saving water (Reed, 2012). However, the government had found a new water resource, Lake Alan Henry, which we could use in the future, and it could supply us for 8 years (Reed, 2012). Although the government said that, we had run Lake Meredith dry. That was very scary, because if we did not try to reduce the usage of water, we would face the same problem again and again. Nonetheless, the Mayor of Lubbock said that he would try to find another water source in order to make the civilians less anxious. On the other hand, the water problem might result from the fracking and farming, because these kinds of industries needed plenty of water, and we knew another fact, which was that land owners could drill water or oil as long as they were doing it on their own land. Those situations were how the water problem happened and how it had been caused, and I was going to talk about how people feel and their perspective.

      I found an article talking about shale and fracking, and it said they were not the main reason why Texas had water shortages (Blackmon, 2013). Moreover, the water crisis might be caused by agriculture, and I thought that it could represent some part of the population. Sometimes, people were not correct, but according to the article, we could understand some people’s thinking. If you said that agriculture was the main culprit of the water shortage, I believed most people would agree with that kind of statement.

      After we knew some people’s perspective, we could make a guess. Because we were not fortune tellers, we had to make hypotheses. The first hypothesis was that I thought most people would not know what fracking was, because even Microsoft office Word did not know the word. Therefore, how could we expect people to know the word that the most powerful documental software did not know? The second one regarded Lubbock water supply. I supposed the residents living here would not know where the water supply came from. We could try to imagine a condition which was you were a resident here. What do you did every day? You would not associate the water supply issue if there was no water shortage or problem that happened here, because people would take water for granted. When people turned on the tap, water would automatically come out. It did not matter how long people had been living here. The third one deals with which of the people took more water than they should. I think it might be the oil drillers because their career type was more like business men. They were an enterprise or a company, and the stereotype of them was greedy and only caring about the profits, so it would affect what people thought about oil drillers in the survey. That was just my hypothesis which did not mean all oil drillers were greedy or profits focusing.

Methods

We were a group in the class, ESL5301 Advanced Writing. There were four teachers and 13 of students in our class. The class was 9:30 to 11:00 on Tuesday and Thursday. In addition, we had an assignment which was a survey about how people thought about Lubbock water.

      The survey included 12 questions. Some of them were multiple selections, and some of them were yes/no questions. At the beginning of the survey, we recorded their personal information, such as where they were from, student or non-student, and male or female. After that, we asked what climate issues were important for them, whether they knew what fracking was, whether they believed fracking endangered the public water supply, how knowledgeable they were about where Lubbock got its water supply, whether they knew where Lubbock was getting its water for public use now, etc. Most questions were asking about the information around Lubbock water, and it was kind of testing how knowledgeable they were about Lubbock water supply.

       Despite these questions, the teacher required us that we had to get eight surveys and find at least five Americans, four male, and four female. It was fine to find eight residents or eight students. We didn’t limit this population. Where the Americans were from was not a big issue. Where you found the people was also not a big issue. People might think that our survey was not scientific, but the results only provided us in a class discussion. According to the survey, we could have a general idea of people’s perception of Lubbock water.

      In my survey, I asked three females; one of them was an American. She was very knowledgeable about the topic; the rest of them seemed like it was the first time they thought about or contacted these questions. Moreover, I asked five males; one of them was an international student. He knew a little bit about Lubbock water, but the rest of the male Americans were more knowledgeable than him. In addition, all of my surveys were done by TTU students, so there was no data about residents. Actually, TTU was a huge community, and it included 32,611 students in 2012 (Cook, 2012). Therefore, the whole university was like a small size Lubbock. To sum up, among my respondents, Americans were more familiar with Lubbock water than internationals.

Results

According to the results of the surveys, we had found that people who were surveyed were not ignorant. Actually, they were more knowledgeable than I had expected. In the first question the items which they were worried about the most were air and water pollution (the results were close, so I mentioned both into the most). Most people knew what fracking was, but they didn’t know if fracking endangered the public water supply. In the fourth question, people were humble because only a few people checked “very knowledgeable.” More than half the people knew where Lubbock got public water; however, almost half the people knew what Lake Meredith was. More than half the people believed in water restrictions for the city of Lubbock. Half the people had confidence that Lubbock water restrictions were effective. Only some people believed in water restrictions for farmers in the area. Most the people were trying to save water generally. Farmers and oil drillers were the major answer that the people had chosen in question eleven. Less than half the people were confident about Lubbock water. They were generally more knowledgeable than me. I think that was because the Americans have been living in America for several years, and Americans are supposed to be more knowledgeable than the international population.

 Therefore we may assume that Americans are more knowledgeable than the international population based on the first paragraph. Here are some facts that showed Texans were more knowledgeable than the other population. We had 96 (64%) people who knew about fracking, and in the knowing group 59% were from Texas, 25% from other states and 16% from international population (chart #5). The other fact that appeared was that only 44% people knew Lake Meredith. In the group of that people who knew Lake Meredith, 59% were from Texas, 26% from other states and 15% from the international population.

Moreover, I had made three hypotheses about the survey. The first hypothesis was that I thought most people would not know what fracking was, but surprisingly I was wrong. The second one, I supposed the people who are from Texas would not know where the water supply came from, and less than half people knew where the water came from. According to the data, there were 75 people who were from Texas and only 21 (28%) people who were checking knowledgeable. Almost half of Texans (37 people, 49%) were checking somewhat. Hence, we could see that Texans were not familiar with the water supply. The third one dealt with which of the people took more water than they should. I was right in the last hypothesis which is “which of the people took more water that they should,” and I said it might be the oil drillers. We could look up the outcome that 23 (31%) people chose farmer, 30 (40%) people chose oil drillers, and 30 (40%) people choose people who water their lawns (Texans). This result only accounted on Texans, so it appeared that Texans had the same idea with me that oil drillers took too much water.

Discussion

According to those charts, I found some interesting points that we could discuss. In the first question, check the issues that you feel are the most important, I started to distribute these nine issues into two parts, global and local issues. Air and water pollution were the highest (chart #7), and the following items were Fresh water supply, Drought and Global warming. The top five were all over 80 notes; however, the remaining four items were all below 50 notes. In those top five, which meant people were concerned the most, three items were global issues, and two items were local issues. Nonetheless, if you looked at the top two items, you could have seen they were both global issues. In my opinion, this situation was as if New Yorkers saw the news of Katrina hurricane, they might not give compassion. However, if the hurricane was Sandy, it would have been a totally different reaction.

      Another interesting thing was that there was a fun fact when I compared chart #5 and #9. In chart #5 the people who knew what fracking was had 59% people from Texas, 25% people from other states and 16% people from international group. In chart #9 the people who believed fracking endangered the public water supply had the similar percentage with the people who knew what fracking was. The people who checked “yes” in question three had 58% from Texas, 23% people from other states and 19% people from the international population. According to this fact, we could not assume anything, but when we looked at another fact, there were 96 (64%) people knowing what fracking was. Only 30 (31%) people said that fracking didn’t endanger the public water supply, so we could truly understand what people thought about fracking.

      The other interesting thing would be in chart #17, #18 and #19. Those charts listed how knowledgeable people were about where Lubbock got its water supply and their feeling about Lubbock’s ability to get water in the future. I only compared the knowledgeable part because if people were not knowledgeable, they could have guessed about answers. Texans who were knowledgeable had 76% people (chart #17) who worried about Lubbock’s ability to get water in the future. In the USA non Texans part (chart #18), USA non Texans who were knowledgeable had 20% people who worried about Lubbock’s ability to get water in the future. In the international part (chart #19), internationals who were knowledgeable also had 20% of people who worried about Lubbock’s ability to get water in the future. Actually, I felt a little bit weird that the percentage should be similar, but it didn’t. It was supposed to be similar because that was how the population distributed. Maybe, the people who were from Texas were more concerned Lubbock water because Lubbock was also part of Texas.

      If we do further research on this project, my advice will be surveying more people instead of 150. We can probably get 300 surveys and divide more populations. For example, we can include ages, majors and the time they have been in Lubbock. According to the three new categories, we will have the group of American, American from Texas, internationals, students, non-students, males, females, different ages, different majors and the time they have spent in Lubbock. I believe that we will have an exciting and interesting result after we cross match these datum. We had had interesting results even though we only got 150 surveys. However, it will be a problem to collect 300 surveys. For instance, the workload of the assignment will explore as twice as the previous one, but the decision depends on teachers. Actually, I felt very comfortable in the class because we usually had a paragraph per week. If everyone followed the steps of teachers, the assignments should have been a burden. Therefore, if teachers want to do 300 surveys, teachers can set more capacity in the class in order to get more students or give more credits in the class.

Bibliography

Blackmon, D. (2013, Aug. 21). Shale, fracking are not the main cause of Texas water                                                                              shortages. Forbes Retrieved in September, 2013 from:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2013/08/21/shale-fracking-are-not-the-main-cause-of-texas-water-shortages/

Cook, C. (2012, Sep. 15). Texas Tech Sets Another Enrollment Record. Forbes

Retrieved in November, 2013 from:

http://today.ttu.edu/2012/09/texas-tech-sets-another-enrollment-record/

Reed, A. (2012, Feb. 09). Lubbock’s water crisis, how did we get here? KCBD.

Retrieved in September, 2013 from:

http://www.kcbd.com/story/16903788/lubbocks-water-crisis-how-did-we-get-here

Final paper

Jose A Payan

Abstract

This report is about the study that we did with 150 people and their perception about the water crisis in the city of Lubbock. We used questionnaires to collect the data. In the questionnaires we included specific questions, to give us a clearer idea of the perceptions of the people, besides separating our population into male and female, Texans, Non-Texans and internationals also students and Non-Students. Most of the questionnaires were done within Texas Tech University, and it was eight surveys per person. The total of the questionnaires was carefully analyzed with the aim of being as objective as possible. The results were interpreted with graphs, in which we find different results to each of our questions. This indicates to us that there are differences in what people think, and how concerned they are about the water crisis in the city of Lubbock, and with these results we respond to our hypotheses and give the reader actual information.

Who is more informed about this issue? Who is more concerned? Besides who really is willing to do something to save water? These are questions we must answer in order to find and propose real and workable solutions. 

Water crisis in the city of Lubbock TX.

Nowadays, all the people are witnessing the great changes that are taking the planet earth, such as global warming, the changing seasons, natural phenomena and so on. All this is because of the actions we have day by day; we are polluting and depleting our resources unconsciously, destroying our planet. Even when we do not realize, we can be polluting the water. There are many habits that can help water conservation. We can easily implement in our daily lives such as bathing no more than 5 minutes, shut off the water when we brush our teeth, also, water our garden with treated water and many other.

       As far as water is concerned, three quarters of planet earth is water and of a total of only 3% is fresh water; of this 3%, only 0.7% fresh water, of this 3% only 0.7% are for human use (Howard, 2013), and their various activities are included; two of these activities are agriculture and fracking into the oil field. These are two of the most profitable activities in our region, and through these we are running out of our water reserves, since there is almost no kind of restriction on water use (Avalanche-Journal, 2013).

While fracking typically consumes less water than farming or residential uses, the exploration method is increasing competition for the precious resource, driving up the price of water and burdening already depleted aquifers and rivers in certain drought-stricken stretches. Some farmers and city leaders worry that the fraking boom is consuming too much of a scarce resource, while others examine the push for production as an opportunity to earn money by selling water (Garance, 2013).

Moreover, oilfield representatives say their activities are not destroying the water supply, and in fact they are using treated water and improving its processes; this in order to not cause environmental harm. Another big factor in this crisis is agriculture; however, as in the oil field they assure us they only use water that rightfully belongs to them as it is on their property (Blake, 2012).

We have been talking about the big companies, but how informed are the people of Lubbock?    

For many years, Lake Meredith was the primary source of water for Lubbock. But, the drought this past year and the lack of rainfall above the lake has dried completely. Water levels have lowered, and increased water consumption. That is why restrictions were imposed on the use of water in the city. Despite this, the acquisition of water from Lake Henry will provide supply for at least the next eight or ten years. Moreover, there remains the possibility that the water will run out in Lubbock, if we don't take care about saving water (Reed, 2012).

Lubbock city currently gets its supply of water mainly across the lake Henry and other sources. According to studies by the city council these other sources of supply are necessary to maintain the demand of the population of the city as not to be so for the next 10 years, the city will not be able to satisfy the generate demand Lubbock city, even if aggressive water conservation measures are implemented (City of Lubbock, 2013). 

Hypothesis

For my hypotheses about the water problem in Lubbock, I thought of the following. It's true that Texas residents are more concerned about this problem or than others? As we all know Lubbock is a city with lots of floating population (students). Since the majority of students may be going to leave the city after they finish their studies, they are likely to be less involved with the problem of the city. In the second place, who cares more about this problem, males or females? With this question we can realize which gender is more concerned about this. I concluded that women would always care about resources, whatever it is. In this case it is the water of Lubbock, for the reason they tend to secure the future for their children and themselves. Another scenario that comes to mind and returns to the floating population against the residents of Lubbock is that residents of this city more easily accept restrictions on the use of water than non-residents as I mentioned earlier. My last hypothesis is that people think that the oil industry uses more water than they need; this is because people only know the information that the media send.

Method

This class is great, because it's a great aid to improve your grammar and redaction; I'm not a native English speaker and see here a big opportunity to get better in my writing, but even if you are an English native speaker, I'm really sure that this class going a help you, because even when my first language is Spanish is hard for me write correctly in Spanish I imagine that is the same for native English speakers too. This class is especially good because we are just 13 students and 4 teachers; we can say is one professor for each 3 students, which I think is excellent; how the professor guides the class is good. In all of the classes we have to stay practiced and at the end that is the intention. The professor and his assists encourage us in each class to improve our writing; with examples, being open to question, and offering extra hours for help us, not just for this class they always are open for help us in any class if we have problems with the writing part.

For our research about the water in Lubbock we surveyed a total of 150 people with the objective to recognize what people knew or thought about this problem. In my case to get the surveys I did my surveys with my classmates and my professors; they were very friendly and took it seriously.

In our survey we wanted to give ourselves an idea of ​​how many people were residents of Texas, how many people were students and their gender.

In addition, we wanted to know their interests and knowledge about what fracking is. Also we asked a couple of questions to determine their water care habits, and see who was concerned about this state of affairs.

I asked to one of my professors to fill the survey and he seemed very serious at the time to respond the questions; the rest I did with my classmates for my "International Management" class, there because it seemed to me interesting asked to international people instead that U.S. citizens, I imagined that the rest of my classmates would ask to U.S. citizens.  

In my view, the one of the limitations that we could have had is the variation in the answers, because I think all my classmates did their surveys in the school; therefore, all the answers were similar, since one student had access to tons of information and on the other hand, one person who had to work at least 40 hours a week just to pay the rent, he or she did not care about this problem, because he or she had other problems in his or her head and that was a big limitation. I think we should have done the surveys outside of school, for better and more variety in the results.

Another limitation was that I could appreciate the fact that we did not had any money support for this research; this last limitation were important because with this resource we could go out from the school and apply the surveys with different people not only college people and ours results would be different.

The other limitation that we could consider was that most of the people who asked our questions were between the age of 20 to 30 and it might affect the result because sometimes people in those ages do not pay attention to the water crisis, and they are so young to think about water crisis, additionally most of this population on twenties came to Lubbock just for college and when they finish is probably that they going to leave the city and for this reason they don’t take this as a big problem and their responses might be erroneous.  

Moreover, most of the people we asked the question were educated people and we did not go to find the people who did not have any education to see if those people had knowledge about the fracking and so on or not. In addition, we did not have time to ask enough people to get the superior result, and it caused our result to might be not trustable (see appendix I).

Result

The total population of our study was 150, distributed as follows: 75 males and 75 females. From Texas was 75 of which 38 men and 37 women. From US but not from Texas were 36 of which 20 were male, and 16 were female. International students were 35. Among 40 non-students, there were 21 persons from Texas, 15 from US, and 4 international. With this facts we can assume that our results will be evenly regarding gender (see appendix II, Chart 2).

Who uses more water, according to the people

When we hear “oil field”, we relate it to money and therefore industry. I suppose that is why the people believe that this industry is using more water as reflected in our results. Indicating that the 75 Texan’s women, 30 of them believed that the oil drillers used more water than they need, while 32 of them said they had no idea. Among Texans men 24 of them claimed that the oil field uses more water than they should and only 13 said they did not know anything about it. On the other hand, there ere non-residents of

Texas, of whom the majority stated that the sphere of oil consumes more water than they should. Response to this question we can say that most of the people blamed the oil drillers to used more water that they needed even when the people did not have a clear idea about what fraking is (see appendix II, Chart 15).

Who has knowledge about what fracking is and if this activity endangers the public water system

It is presumably Texans who have more knowledge about what fracking is, as it is one of the primary activities in the area, but in a school environment, things change, because you have access to lots of information even when we are not expecting it.

Of our total population 96 of them knew that fracking is; of these 57 were residents of Texas, 24 U.S. but not from Texas and 15 were internationals. Furthermore of the 54 who had no knowledge about fracking, were distributed in 18 Texas residents, 12 out of Texas, and 24 were international; according with these facts we can say that Texans had more knowledge about what fracking was, this probably because they have seen this industry work for all of their life (See appendix II, Chart 5).

Texans, in general, seemed to blame oil drillers more than another because the population of Texas residents found that 75 of them believed that drilling and fracking caused significant damage, while 30 disagreed.

Also within our student population we can say the same we found that 45 of them who did not know what the fracking was, most of whom were international. Among the 65 students with knowledge of what was fracking, 40 of them are Texans, 13 were international and the rest from US but not from Texas.

Who is more conscious about water conservation?

With this question we wanted to find who is more conscious because, at first we thought that non-students cared more about preserving water, also that non-students would be against restrictions on water use, plus the difference between men and women who supported the restrictions on this resource and finally what people responded about farmers.

We saw the results of the total of 75 women, which was that 52 were concerned with the future water, while the other part of the 75 respondents only 34 men were concerned about this. Also international students within a total of 35, 22 respondents are concerned about the future supply against 13 who were confident.

Regarding these who usually cared about water, of the population of non-students 22 women said they would conserve and just 2 said they did not care for the water; on the side of the men, 12 said they had habits to conserve water while 3 of them are not concerned. (See appendix II, Chart 35).

Another important point is that 43 Texans knew where the water cames from, against 33 who reported not knowing.

Discussion

With this research, we intended to find both what people in the city of Lubbock know about the water situation and how they feel about it.

In this research we had many variables such as the number of our population, the resources available to us. Besides these were a large number of limitations; as being the majority of the surveys was implemented in school, so even if they were not students they were people with some college degree, and this was much limit in the difference between responses.

In our eagerness to find the perception of people about the water situation in Lubbock, as mentioned, before most of our population, were students of Texas Tech University. We found great surprises, contrary to what we imagined.

First, a notable result was that men and women who were concerned about this situation were not much different, contrary to what we thought, that women would worry more than men about the situation of water in Lubbock. Another interesting thing we discovered was that although men as women were concerned about this situation, they did not do much to conserve water; on the contrary women had more water conservation habits.

As regards, Texans being well informed about what the fracking was, our theory was confirmed, because more than half replied that they knew, except for some international, who were also well informed on the subject.

Continuing with international students, we assumed that they were neither interested nor concerned about water care, since most of them upon graduation are going to return to their country or their state. The result showed that the majority of international students, despite did not know much about the state of affairs, worried and had habits to conserve water; maybe this is because in their country of origin they have the same problem.

Another point was stressed. About restrictions to the excessive use of water, the results indicated that the majority of men surveyed agreed with implementing restrictions for farmers, while women were somewhat indifferent to this situation. This might be due to the fact that farming was a purely male activity and men had more knowledge about this process.

Bibliography

Avalanche-Journal (2013, Mar. 10) In Texas, water use for fracking stirs concerns Retrieved on Oct. 13, 2013 from http://lubbockonline.com/agriculture/2013-03-10/texas-water-use-fracking-stirs-concerns#.UoFHlfmINQQ

Blake, S. (2012, Aug. 07) Tech Professor says concerns over fracking unfounded. Retrieved on Sep. 24, 2013 from http://www.kcbd.com/story/19215063/lubbock-fracking-to-be-addressed-at-city-council-meeting

City Of Lubbock Texas (2013) , Strategic Water Supply Plan for the City of Lubbock, Retrieved on Sep. 20, 2013 from http://www.mylubbock.us/docs/default-source/water-department-file-library/2013- strategic-water-supply-plan.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Garance, B. (2013, Jun. 16) Fracking fuels water fights in nation's dry spots. Retrieved on Oct. 17, 2013 from http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2013-06-16/fracking-fuels-water-fights-nations-dry-spots#.UoFbT_mINQQ

       Howard, P. (2013, Nov. 5). "Water, Water, Everywhere...." Retrieved on Nov. 6, 2013 from http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html

      Reed, A. (2012, Feb. 9). Lubbock water crisis, how did we get here? Retrieved on Nov. 1, 2013 from http://www.kcbd.com/story/16903788/lubbocks-water-crisis-how-did-we-get-here

Survey

JAP 

ESL 5301

Survey

Thank you for filling out our survey!

I am from

____  Texas

____  USA, not Texas

____  international, not USA

I am  ____  student

____  non-student

I am  ____  Male

____  Female

1. Check the issues that you feel are most important. Check as many as you like.

____  rising sea levels

____  global warming

____  increasing storms, tornados, & hurricanes

____  increasing flooding

____  drought

____  fresh water supply

____  fracking & drilling and their effects

____  air pollution

____ water pollution

2. Do you know what fracking is?

____  Y  ____  N

3. Do you believe fracking endangers the public water supply?

____  Y  ____  N  ____  Don't know

4. How knowledgeable are you about where Lubbock gets its water supply?

_____ Very knowlegeable _____ Somewhat  _____ Not very

5. Do you know where Lubbock is getting its water for public use, now?

_____ Y  _____ N

6. Do you know how Lake Meredith is related to the question of Lubbock's water supply?

_____ Y  ______ N

7. Do you believe in water restrictions for the city of Lubbock?

____  Y  ____  N  ____  Don't know

8. Do you think Lubbock enforces its water restrictions effectively?

____  Y  ____  N  ____  Don't know

9. Do you believe in water restrictions for farmers in the area?

____  Y  ____  N  ____  Don't know

10. Do you usually, generally, try to save water (for example, turn it off while brushing teeth?

____  Y  ____  N  

11. Which of the people on this list take MORE water than they should, based on the availability of the resource? Check as many as you like.

_____ farmers

_____ oil drillers

_____ people who water their lawns

12. Which best describes your feeling about Lubbock's ability to get water in the future?

_____ confident

_____ worried

Proposal(SG)

Proposal for a Study of Peoples’ Attitude and Awareness of Lubbock Water Crisis.

Introduction

Water conservation is an important issue in many parts of the United States. Water supply shortages have become more frequent, and by 2050, more than one-third of all U.S. counties are expected to face a significantly higher risk of water shortage (Spencer and Altman, 2010). Water pollution, population growth, and climate change are expected to increase stresses on water resources. Water conservation and protection of water quality are of increasing interest to both water suppliers and water users. Water supply in Texas comes from both surface water and aquifers. Surface water occurs naturally in rivers and creeks which run generally from the northwest to the southeast, and in stock tanks, ponds, and lakes—most of which are man-made. Groundwater occurs in the Ogallala aquifers, oriented perpendicularly to Texas rivers and parallel to the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico. Lubbock is located in the northwestern part of Texas state and ecologically is part of the southern end of the Western High Plains (Wikipedia) in a largely cotton-growing and livestock farming area and is one of the fastest growing cities in west Texas. For many years, Lake Meredith was Lubbock's primary source of water (Reed, 2012). But the drought and the lack of precipitation has dried up the lake completely. City water currently comes from two well fields in Roberts County and Bailey County and one lake, Lake Allen Henry. The Lubbock Water Department has applauded that the City is constantly exploring water sources for Lubbock and they have made plans for the residents for the next 100 years (Lubbock Water Department, 2013). In previous years Lubbock has had recurring drought and hotter temperature. Therefore Lubbock has been scared about the possibility of having no water. The City of Lubbock has implemented various strategies to conserve water to overcome the water crisis including public education and awareness, seasonal watering restrictions, increased water volume rate, reducing unaccounted water losses, etc. Generally, people’s perception about water is an important factor which influences the water use policies. I think working on people’s attitudes and beliefs about water are essential. The purpose of this study is that, we wanted to find out about peoples’ awareness of where Lubbock gets its water supply and what striking features caused Lubbock water to be in danger. And also we wanted to study what people believed about the City of Lubbock water restrictions and how they actively participate to save water. In this worthwhile study we focused on the differences in perception of between male and female, between students and residents and among internationals, non-Texas Americans, and Texans.

Background Study

In the news (KCBD, 2012), an article titled on “Lubbock’s water crisis, how did we get there?”, Mayor Tom Martin admitted he was concerned about the possibility of having no water, because Lake Meredith was dried up  and that was Lubbock's primary source of water. After it dried up the City of Lubbock had to rely on just the well fields. He said that “We're having to limit water usage during the summer, because the usage has gone way up and once Lake Alan Henry is online, our situation is much improved for the next 4, 6, 7 or 8 years”. An article in ClimateProgressor (2012) entitled “Portrait of a Drought: Finding Water where It Ain’t” said that West Texas is on the front lines of a changing climate, and scarce water is the most obvious symptom, because it is specially highlighted that ground water supplies are endangered   because of tempest of hotter temperatures, more people, water-sapping cotton farming and a devastating 2011 drought. Conkwright, general manager of the High Plains Underground Conservation Water District #1, headquartered in Lubbock said “Farmers are being required to install water meters to ensure they don’t exceed their limits. This is an inappropriate effort to conserve Ogallala Aquifer. It seems like adding salt to the wound”, (Agrilife, 2013, Mar. 12). According to the Wall Street Journal (2013, Aug. 1), “Severe drought continues to threaten the water supply of large parts of the Western U.S. According to a group that monitors drought conditions, Lubbock, Texas has averaged the worst level of drought since the beginning of 2011”. It opened people’s eyes towards the future of Lubbock city and its limited resources, in particular, water.

Hypothesis

Based on this study I come up with six following hypotheses that concern this Lubbock water crisis. First, we believe that women would more care about water than do men. That is because usually women are more responsible for day-today household activities within their families such as cooking, taking care of kids, cleaning the house, gardening work, etc. Second, residents would care more about water than do non-residents, because residents need water for a long period of time, while non-residents may stay in Lubbock for a short period of time, hence they only consider their water needs. Third, residents would be more probable to agree to water restriction than non-residents because non-residents might live in Lubbock for a short period of time; hence they don’t practice using less water to save for the future. Sometimes, they have not experienced any water problem in their home town; accordingly they don’t have attitude to save water. Fourth, men would be more like to agree to water restriction than women, because women might care about the water to fulfill their family needs without any restrictions to their household activities. Fifth, non-students would have more concern about saving water than students, because the students have concentrated on their studies or they may plan to leave Lubbock after graduating to find a job, but most of non-students are Lubbock residents who have lived for a long period of time in Lubbock and they think about rest of their life living in Lubbock and saving water for their children’s future. Sixth, students would be less knowledgeable about fracking than would be non-students because students might be aware of the water crisis in Lubbock they wouldn’t care what about the potential causes. For an example, I myself don’t know what fracking is.

Bibliography

Burns, R. (2013, Mar. 12). Texas crop, weather for March 12, 2013. Agrilife. Retrieved from Sep. 17, 2013 from http://today.agrilife.org/2013/03/12/texas-crop-whether-95/

City Of Lubbock Texas (2013), Strategic Water Supply Plan for the City of Lubbock, Retrieved on Sep. 17, 2013 from http://www.mylubbock.us/docs/default-source/water-department-file-library/2013- strategic-water-supply-lan.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Fleming, P. (2012, October 19). Portrait of a Drought: Finding Water Where It Ain’t. ClimateProgress. Rtrieved on September 29, 2013 from http://thinkprogress.org/climate/climate/2012/10/19/ 1052091/portrait-of-a-drought-finding-water-where-it-aint/

Gonzalez, E. (2012, Aug. 6). Should we vote on fracking? Retrieved on Oct 3, 2013 from http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2012-08-06/should-we-vote-fracking#.UnHPPY0jK4Q

KCBD News. (2005, Nov. 5). Lubbock's Water Crisis: Keys to the Future. Retrieved on Sep 26, 2013 from http://www.kcbd.com/story/4129560/lubbocks-water-crisis-keys-to-the-future

KCBD News. (2013, Aug. 16). City of Lubbock disputes water shortage claims. Retrieved on Sep 26, 2013 from http://www.kcbd.com/story/23156106/city-of-lubbock-disputes-water-shortage-claims

Lubbock Water Department.  Retrieved on Sep 26, 2013 from http://www.mylubbock.us/departmental-websites/departments/water-department/home

Magelssen ,T. (2012, Mar. 12). Hydraulic fracturing experts discuss problems associated with process. Retrieved on Oct 3, 2013 http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2012-03-12/hydraulic-fracturing- experts-discuss-problems-associated-process#.Uk2OSI0jLXa

Reed, A. (2012, February 9). Lubbock's water crisis, how did we get here? KCBD. Retrieved on September 30, 2013 from http://www.kcbd.com/story/16903788/lubbocks-water-crisis-how-did- we-get-here

Sauter, M.B., and Hess, A.E.M. (2013, Aug. 1). Nine cities running out of water. 24/7 Wall Street. Retrieved on Sep. 17, 2013 from http://247wallst.com/Special-report/3013/08/01nine-cities-running-out-of-water

Spencer, T., and P. Altman. 2010. Climate change, water, and risk: Current water demands are not sustainable. Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC. http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/ watersustainability/files/WaterRisk.pdf (accessed 29 Aug. 2013).

Water use in United States (2013, Jan. 28). National Atlas of the United States. US Government.  Retrieved on Sep. 23, 2013 from http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/water/a_wateruse.html