Question
The Project Problem: You have been hired to manage the water resources for a small town. To meet EPA requirements, the amount of arsenic in
- The Project Problem: You have been hired to manage the water resources for a small town. To meet EPA requirements, the amount of arsenic in drinking water must be no more than 0.01 parts per million (ppm) and the amount of selenium in drinking water must be no more than 0.05 parts7 per million (ppm).
- The town's water is supplied by two wells, one which is close to town and inexpensive to pump water from and one that is farther from town and costs more to pump water from. The town requires at least 3.55 million liters of water per day. The town council has instructed you to pump water from the wells in such a way that the cost of pumping the water is minimized. However, to maintain a safety factor, the town council has also instructed you to make sure the amount of arsenic does not exceed 0.008 ppm and the amount of selenium does not exceed 0.04 ppm. The following chart gives the arsenic and selenium levels for the two wells, in addition to the cost to acquire the water.
Well | Arsenic Level (ppm) | Selenium Level (ppm) | Cost |
A | 0.012 | 0.02 | $.70 per kL |
B | 0.003 | 0.05 | $1.50 per kL |
To successfully complete the task, you must determine the following and report back to the town council:
1. What is the minimum cost per day to supply water to the town while meeting the town's safety requirements? Costs should be reported to the nearest cent. Answer in a complete sentence.
2. How much water should be pumped from Well A and Well B each day to meet the town's water requirements and achieve the minimum daily cost? The amount of water should be reported to the nearest hundredth of a liter. Answer in a complete sentence.
3. Follow-up: Given that the average daily water usage in the US is 85 Liters per person, and the population of the town is 32525 people, should the town council launch a water conservation campaign? Explain your answer in a grammatically correct paragraph and be sure to include your supporting work.
Useful Hints: Hint One: 1 ppm = 1mg/L Hint Two: Make sure you carefully keep track of your units. Hint Three: Never round in the middle of a problem. Keep exact figures and only round final values.
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