Proposal                                                                                                     Shima Hassanzadeh

There is a lot of water on Earth in various forms such as sea, rain, rivers etc. Water is essential for life and we cannot live without it. Water is essential for plant and animal nutrition. Water can be used to produce many products. Based on a report in the National Atlas of the United States (2013), the use of water in the US has changed with time, and the most important factor which affects water sources is human activities. In Lubbock water has been overused, and Lubbock has struggle with its water sources. Reed (2012) said that Lake Meredith, which is one of the main water resources in Lubbock, has been in trouble for several years, and it almost dried. I think people’s feeling about water is one of the important factors which influence the water use policies. If we know people are worried about water in Lubbock we can ask them to preserve the water, and be more careful about water usage.  I think working on people’s feeling about water is really beneficial. As far as we know, no one has studied perception of water issues among the people of Lubbock. In this research, we want to find out if people know where Lubbock gets its water supply, and if they know what causes Lubbock water to be in danger. We will study how people feel about the Lubbock water problem, and how they see this issue. We will also study if people actively save water, and if people worry about the water supply. In this study we will look at the differences between male and female, between students and residents and among internationals non-Texas Americans, and Texans.

There are many authors who wrote about the water crisis. Here are some people who wrote about the severity of the crisis, and the problems people are faced with.

According to Sauter and Hess (2013), the low rain fall has engendered severe drought in west Texas in the United States, and if it continues west Texas cities face lots of problems such as crop losses, low reservoir levels, and water shortage emergencies. Water is one of the most important things on which all the existence of life depends. Without water all countries face different problems in all aspects of their life.

 Reed (2012) said that because of the Lake Alan Henry, the water crisis in Lubbock can be fixed, which means we will not have a water problem in the near future, while Goldenberg (2013, par.6) said that  "towns in west Texas are facing a grim reality: water is so scarce  that almost 15 million people need to ration it". People cannot water their gardens, ranches are forced to dump their herd, and cotton farmers have already lost as much as half of their crops. He also said that "water wells are being drilled in big cities, but small towns cannot afford them, and small centers' inhabitants are becoming aware that when water is gone, they will be gone too" (Goldenberg, 2013, par.3).

According to the City of Lubbock (2013, p.ES 3), "Lubbock’s current water supply sources consist of Lake Alan Henry (LAH), Roberts County Well Field (RCWF), and the Bailey County Well Field (BCWF)". Regarding water demand, which is estimated in this article, "Current estimates show that by the year 2014, additional water supplies and or aggressive water conservation is needed in order to maintain water supply during the peak demand of summer months".  Without these additional water supplies by 2025, Lubbock will not be capable of supplying the projected water demand even with aggressive conservation" (City of Lubbock, 2013, p.ES 3).

According to Burns (2013), the water shortage problem is not only for those who consumed water a lot, such as farmers, but also for whole cities. He also said the agricultural areas need water badly. And farmers cannot use well water because it tends to be salty.

There are a lot of factors that lead Lubbock to have water problems such as drought, farming, water pollution etc. I think the most important one inducing difficulty is drought.

Lubbock has tried to get its citizens to conserve the water. According to Sauter and Hess (2013), Texas has implemented mandatory restrictions.

All those people talked about the water crisis, and some restrictions which exist about water usage. But, the problem is, we should find out if people will follow those restrictions or not. Moreover, Lubbock restricts farmers; but, do we know if people support that or not? Therefore, it is really important to know how people feel about water in Lubbock. Because if people know about the severity of the problem, and if they feel worry about water, it might lead them to follow the restrictions. That is why it is really important to know about how people feel about water in Lubbock. In this research, we will study how people feel about Lubbock water, and how much they know about water crisis. We will also find out if people are worried about Lubbock water, and how they see the issue. In addition, we realize what differences in opinion about Lubbock water are among different people based on their gender, residency status etc. Knowing people's perception about Lubbock water, we might control the right pattern of water consumption. It may also become one of the methods to conserve Lubbock water resources. It may engender modifying consumption patterns to prevent loss of only a few drops of water and prevent other problems in the future.

I came up with the following hypotheses about the water problem in Lubbock. First, women care more about water than do men. I think that is because women see themselves as more responsible than men to support their family in difficult situations. For example, mothers care more about their children's nutrition than fathers. Second, Lubbock residents care more about water than non-residents, because residents need water for a long period of time, while non-residents may move to another place and use other sources of water. Third, Lubbock residents will be more likely to agree to water restriction than non-residents because non-residents might live in Lubbock for a short period of time; thus, they do not want to oblige themselves to use less water to save for the future. Indeed, they prefer to use as much as they want during the short period of time they spend in Lubbock. Fourth, non-students care more about water saving than students, because the students might think that after they graduate they will leave Lubbock to find a job or for many other reasons, whereas nonstudents are more stable in Lubbock and they know they may live in Lubbock for the rest of their life and do not move to other cities or other states.

References:   

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, Retrived on Sep. 17, 2013 from http://www.mylubbock.us/docs/default-source/water-department-file-library/2013- strategic-water-supply-plan.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Goldenberg, S. (2013, Aug. 11). A Texan tragedy: ample oil, no water: Fracking boom                                 sucks away precious water from beneath the ground, leaving cattle dead, farms bone-dry and people thirsty. The Guardian. Retrieved on Aug. 28, 2013 from http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/aug/11/texas-tragedy-ample-oil-no-water     

Reed, A. (2012, Feb. 9).  Lubbock water crisis, how did we get here? Retrieved on Sep. 17, 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

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