A water treatment plant averages a flow of 261 gallons per minute. What is the daily flow in million gallons per day (MGD)?

To determine the daily flow in million gallons per day (MGD) from a flow rate in gallons per minute (GPM), you'll first need to convert the flow rate to a daily flow.

Start by calculating the total gallons per day. There are 1,440 minutes in a day (24 hours × 60 minutes/hour). Therefore, you can find the daily flow by multiplying the flow rate in GPM by the number of minutes in a day:

261 GPM × 1,440 minutes/day = 376,320 gallons/day.

Next, to convert gallons per day to million gallons per day, you divide the total gallons per day by 1,000,000:

376,320 gallons/day ÷ 1,000,000 = 0.37632 MGD.

When rounded for practical reporting, this value is approximately 0.38 MGD.

This process illustrates the correct method of conversion used to arrive at the answer of 0.38 MGD, which corresponds to the choice provided.