Don't Use It All Up! <back to lessons
(Adapted from Project Food, Land and People)
Materials
Clear glass bowl – 2 quart or greater capacity
Unused sponges, cut into 1 ½-inch square pieces
Masking tape
1 to quart of water
1 quart liquid measuring bowl
Blue food coloring (optional)
Unused toothbrush
Toothpaste
Students will realize some steps that individuals and communities can take to conserve and preserve one of our valuable natural resources – water.
Background information:
The Earth’s population has grown to six and a half billion people and continues to grow at an alarming rate. The strain placed on natural resources increases along with the population growth of people, animals, and plants. Water is essential to all living things. People use water daily in many ways, often in surprising amounts. A single family home that has no water conservation fixtures may use as much as 64.6 gallons per person per day (gpd). We also use water in many indirect ways, such as in the production of manufactured items and food, irrigation of lawns, food crops, preparation of food, cooling, and heating.
Even though there is an abundance of water on Earth, much of it is unusable for consumption by people or animals in its present form. More than 97 percent of Earth’s water is salt water. Of the freshwater supply, most is inconsumable. Glaciers and icecaps hold more than 2 percent of Earth’s water – leaving less than .5 percent of Earth’s water as fresh water available in lakes, groundwater, and streams.
Water is naturally recycled through the hydrologic (water) cycle. (See WWL 6th grade lesson – Water Cycle Boogie activity.) The water we use in our homes, schools, businesses, and industries is cleaned and treated (recycled) so it can be returned to the environment and reused.
DO
1. Measure one quart of water and pour it into the clear glass bowl. Tint the water with blue food coloring (optional). Mark the water level with a strip of masking tape on the outside of the clear glass bowl, lining the top edge of the tape with the water level. This water represents all the available fresh water on our plant Earth.
2. Ask the students “How have you or your family used water in the last two days?" Have someone write the uses on the black board. Each person who volunteers or shares a new and different water use will get a sponge piece. They should remember what they said.
Examples: flush toilet, wash hands, brush teeth, shower, drink, wash dishes, wash clothes, wash car, bath a pet, fix a meal, clean or wash something, swim, water plants, water pets or livestock, etc. Distribute as many of the sponges as possible.
3. Have the volunteers come to the front of the room and, one at a time, repeat their water use and drop the sponge into the bowl of water. If the students say the following uses, tell them how much water it takes per person for each activity:
Uses:
Toilet flushes (18.3 gallons per day or gpd)
Clothes washes (14.0 gpd)
Showers (12.2 gpd)
Facet uses: Hand-washing, drinking, cooking, dishwashing (10.3 gpd)
A dairy cow must drink four gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk.
So, even when you eat something, water is a valuable part of the production and processing of that food.
Allow the sponges to soak up water for a few minutes.
4. Ask for a volunteer to remove the sponges WITHOUT squeezing them out. Mark the new level of water with another piece of masking tape. What happened to our water supply? Pour the water back into the measuring bowl. Record the level. Determine how much water was soaked up or used, then, if possible, calculate the percentage of the total amount that was used.
REFLECT
What will happen if we keep using water at this rate?
Water can be conserved by reducing our demands on it. What are some ways you or your family can reduce your water consumption? Reduce, recycle, and reuse.
(Don’t leave water running when you brush your teeth; don’t take long showers; fix leaky faucets; mulch around landscape plants to conserve moisture reducing the need for frequent watering; consolidate loads of laundry or use the appropriate amount of water compared to the size of your washer load, don’t run the dishwasher until it is full, etc.)
If you and your family reduce and recycle water, we can put some of the water back into our water supply. Ask a couple of volunteers to squeeze the water out of the sponges back into the measuring bowl. Note if there is an increase in the amount. Are we back to the original amount? Why not? Where did that water go? It could have evaporated, went into another water source, as consumed it and it has recycled yet, etc.
APPLY
Everyday we use water to brush our teeth. Raise your hand if you leave the water running while you brush your teeth?
Let’s calculate how much water can be saved by turning off the faucet while you are brushing your teeth.
Ask for a volunteer to brush their teeth. (If you don’t have a sink in your classroom, have a couple of children go to the bathroom for this activity.) Place the measuring bowl in the sink under the faucet. Turn on the faucet at a moderate flow rate while the student brushes his/her teeth and keep in running into the bowl until he/she is finished. Shut the faucet off when he/she is done. Record the amount of water in the container.
How much water can be saved by turning off the faucet when you're brushing your teeth?
Multiply that number by two since you (should) brush your teeth twice a day.
How many gallons is that?
Hint:
Four cups = One quart
Four quarts = One gallon
Sixteen cups = One gallon
How many gallons of water a year (hint: 365 days are in a year)?
Tell the student how many people live in your town, city, or county. Have them calculate how much water could be conserved per year in your community if people simply shut off the facet while they brushed their teeth.
If the average cost for water supplied to a home in the U.S. is about $3.00 for 1,000 gallons (about 3 gallons for a penny), how many gallons of water would your family run down the drain in a year if every family member left the water running while brushing their teeth? How much money would they save by shutting the water off while brushing? Calculation: number of gallons per person per year (based on classroom experiment and first calculation) times the number of people in their family. Divide that number by 3 to get the number of pennies it cost per year; multiply that number by 100 to determine the dollar value of the lost water.
- Grades K – 12
- Subjects: math, science, social studies
Materials
Clear glass bowl – 2 quart or greater capacity
Unused sponges, cut into 1 ½-inch square pieces
Masking tape
1 to quart of water
1 quart liquid measuring bowl
Blue food coloring (optional)
Unused toothbrush
Toothpaste
Students will realize some steps that individuals and communities can take to conserve and preserve one of our valuable natural resources – water.
Background information:
The Earth’s population has grown to six and a half billion people and continues to grow at an alarming rate. The strain placed on natural resources increases along with the population growth of people, animals, and plants. Water is essential to all living things. People use water daily in many ways, often in surprising amounts. A single family home that has no water conservation fixtures may use as much as 64.6 gallons per person per day (gpd). We also use water in many indirect ways, such as in the production of manufactured items and food, irrigation of lawns, food crops, preparation of food, cooling, and heating.
Even though there is an abundance of water on Earth, much of it is unusable for consumption by people or animals in its present form. More than 97 percent of Earth’s water is salt water. Of the freshwater supply, most is inconsumable. Glaciers and icecaps hold more than 2 percent of Earth’s water – leaving less than .5 percent of Earth’s water as fresh water available in lakes, groundwater, and streams.
Water is naturally recycled through the hydrologic (water) cycle. (See WWL 6th grade lesson – Water Cycle Boogie activity.) The water we use in our homes, schools, businesses, and industries is cleaned and treated (recycled) so it can be returned to the environment and reused.
DO
1. Measure one quart of water and pour it into the clear glass bowl. Tint the water with blue food coloring (optional). Mark the water level with a strip of masking tape on the outside of the clear glass bowl, lining the top edge of the tape with the water level. This water represents all the available fresh water on our plant Earth.
2. Ask the students “How have you or your family used water in the last two days?" Have someone write the uses on the black board. Each person who volunteers or shares a new and different water use will get a sponge piece. They should remember what they said.
Examples: flush toilet, wash hands, brush teeth, shower, drink, wash dishes, wash clothes, wash car, bath a pet, fix a meal, clean or wash something, swim, water plants, water pets or livestock, etc. Distribute as many of the sponges as possible.
3. Have the volunteers come to the front of the room and, one at a time, repeat their water use and drop the sponge into the bowl of water. If the students say the following uses, tell them how much water it takes per person for each activity:
Uses:
Toilet flushes (18.3 gallons per day or gpd)
Clothes washes (14.0 gpd)
Showers (12.2 gpd)
Facet uses: Hand-washing, drinking, cooking, dishwashing (10.3 gpd)
A dairy cow must drink four gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk.
So, even when you eat something, water is a valuable part of the production and processing of that food.
Allow the sponges to soak up water for a few minutes.
4. Ask for a volunteer to remove the sponges WITHOUT squeezing them out. Mark the new level of water with another piece of masking tape. What happened to our water supply? Pour the water back into the measuring bowl. Record the level. Determine how much water was soaked up or used, then, if possible, calculate the percentage of the total amount that was used.
REFLECT
What will happen if we keep using water at this rate?
Water can be conserved by reducing our demands on it. What are some ways you or your family can reduce your water consumption? Reduce, recycle, and reuse.
(Don’t leave water running when you brush your teeth; don’t take long showers; fix leaky faucets; mulch around landscape plants to conserve moisture reducing the need for frequent watering; consolidate loads of laundry or use the appropriate amount of water compared to the size of your washer load, don’t run the dishwasher until it is full, etc.)
If you and your family reduce and recycle water, we can put some of the water back into our water supply. Ask a couple of volunteers to squeeze the water out of the sponges back into the measuring bowl. Note if there is an increase in the amount. Are we back to the original amount? Why not? Where did that water go? It could have evaporated, went into another water source, as consumed it and it has recycled yet, etc.
APPLY
Everyday we use water to brush our teeth. Raise your hand if you leave the water running while you brush your teeth?
Let’s calculate how much water can be saved by turning off the faucet while you are brushing your teeth.
Ask for a volunteer to brush their teeth. (If you don’t have a sink in your classroom, have a couple of children go to the bathroom for this activity.) Place the measuring bowl in the sink under the faucet. Turn on the faucet at a moderate flow rate while the student brushes his/her teeth and keep in running into the bowl until he/she is finished. Shut the faucet off when he/she is done. Record the amount of water in the container.
How much water can be saved by turning off the faucet when you're brushing your teeth?
Multiply that number by two since you (should) brush your teeth twice a day.
How many gallons is that?
Hint:
Four cups = One quart
Four quarts = One gallon
Sixteen cups = One gallon
How many gallons of water a year (hint: 365 days are in a year)?
Tell the student how many people live in your town, city, or county. Have them calculate how much water could be conserved per year in your community if people simply shut off the facet while they brushed their teeth.
If the average cost for water supplied to a home in the U.S. is about $3.00 for 1,000 gallons (about 3 gallons for a penny), how many gallons of water would your family run down the drain in a year if every family member left the water running while brushing their teeth? How much money would they save by shutting the water off while brushing? Calculation: number of gallons per person per year (based on classroom experiment and first calculation) times the number of people in their family. Divide that number by 3 to get the number of pennies it cost per year; multiply that number by 100 to determine the dollar value of the lost water.
