1. Welcome to the Water Conservation Virtual Field Trip!
Those of us who live over the Spokane Valley – Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer are lucky to have one of the cleanest and most productive aquifers in the world. It’s up to all of us to keep the aquifer healthy and one of the ways you can do that is by practicing water conservation. Conservation means using only what you need of a resource and leaving the rest for other uses.
2. Where Does Water Go?
Did you know, that if you leave the water running while brushing your teeth, you use 2-5 gallons of water? Try an experiment tonight. See if you can use only one cup of water to rinse your mouth and toothbrush. Congratulations – you conserved (saved) water! How much water you will save in one week, one month or one year just by turning off the facet when you brush your teeth?
3. The Water Cycle
Before you learn more about saving water, let’s take a look at how the water cycle works. Did you know that the glass of water you drank today may have been the same water a dinosaur drank millions of years ago? It’s true!
The water on earth changes form from water to vapor to ice or snow, but there is the same amount of water now as when T Rex was strutting around, and the water has been continually recycling all this time. This cycling is called the water cycle. Click here for a water cycle activity.
Artist: Carla Golembe, www.carlagolembe.com
4. The Water Planet
Earth is called “The Water Planet” for a reason. This drawing of the Earth is not how it really looks. It is drawn this way to show how much water there is compared to land. As you can see, there is 70% more water than land! Can you guess how much of the water is drinkable?
Artist: Carla Golembe, www.carlagolembe.com
5. Fresh Water
If you’ve ever accidentally swallowed a mouthful of ocean, water you’ll probably never forget the salty taste. That water is not drinkable. On this page, you can find the answer to how much water is easily useable. Are you surprised?
Artist: Carla Golembe, www.carlagolembe.com
6. Water Calculator: How much water does your family use?
Use this on-line waste use calculator to see how much water you use.
7. Be A Leak Detective
You can play detective in your own house! Do you have any leaks in your home?
8. What You Can Do At Home
Use this page to find even more water saving ideas! Find one new idea that you will do with your family.
9. Water Around The World
In most parts of the U.S., we turn on a faucet and get clean running water. Around the world about 1 in every 6 people do not have easy access to clean drinking water.
In some parts of the world, women and children may walk 6 kilometers (about 3.7 miles) a day to fetch their water. In other places, they may get running water only part of the day. In Zimbabwe, Africa, some places in the cities don’t get water for days at a time. When water is running people need to boil it to make it safe for drinking. People need clean drinking water to be healthy. Our aquifer water is some of the cleanest drinking water in the world. We need to protect our aquifer and conserve our drinking water.
Artist: Carla Golembe, www.carlagolembe.com
10. Word Scramble
Challenge your “water saving” knowledge with this fun word scramble. When you’ve mastered “Thirstin’s Challenge” see if you can navigate this maze, avoid the “Water Wasting Monsters” and show your knowledge about conserving water at home.
11. Join Aqua Duck
Now that you’ve seen how precious water is, it’s time to make a pledge to protect ours.
Ask your teacher to print this pledge and have everyone sign the back. Then your teacher can request a Classroom Pledge Certificate from the Spokane Aquifer Joint Board. Your class will receive a certificate that you can proudly display in your classroom.