Water, Water Everywhere, but only.03% to DRINK!
Conservation on Campus

As a society Americans take our natural resource Water, very much for granted. We all know our mother Earth is 70% water, but many people fail to understand that of all this water, less than .03%, can actually be used by all the living organisms on earth.  Many of us take very long hot showers, leave the faucet running, full blast, while we brush our teeth, let the hose run while washing the car, or even have a leaking faucet or toilet.  There are probably many of you who have washed 1 pair of jeans that alone can use as much as 30 gallons of water! All these can lead to huge amounts of water wasted!  Water use at school is no different.

Pre-/Post Assessment

• Conduct one water audit per student to begin the activity and then another at the end of the activity to see if water conservation is occurring on an individual basis

Activity 1: Individual Water Audit

How can you cut down on the amount of water you use?  To understand where you can conserve water you must determine how much water you use.  This can be accomplished through a water audit.  By understanding how much water you use and when you can then decide if there are places where you can cut your water consumption.

• Step 1: While together with other members of your group estimate how much water you use in one day….in one week.
• Step 2: Use this chart to monitor your water use for 24 hours.  Actually keep track of how much water you are using on the chart
• Step 3: After examining your personal chart do you see ways to conserve water in your actions?  Discuss this with the group

Activity 2: How Much Does Water Cost?

• Step 1: Where do you get your water?  If you live in a city your water is delivered to your house through piles and is monitored so that the city can charge you for how much your home uses.  The city then bills your home.  Look at the utility bill for the last month and see how much your family paid for your water.  The bill should also include the amount of water your family used and how much it was charged for that water.
  
  
  • If you live in the country you may still have a local utility service that provides your home with water and then bills you…again, check the bill for the information you need.
  • If you live in an area where there is no utility that provides water, you must pump your own water either from a lake, a tank, or a well.  If this is the case your pump is probably electric so the cost of getting water is part of your electric bill and is much harder to determine. 
• Step 2: Determine the cost of water per individuals living in your home: if there are 6 people, divide the bill by six to determine the cost per individual.
• Step 3: As a group look at your data.  Do some homes in your group spend more per individual on water?  List reasons why this could be the case.
• Step 4: As a group, determine what actions can be taken in your individual homes to reduce the amount of water used.  Some suggestions: only use the dishwasher or clothes washer when there is a full load, do not take long showers, do not run water when you are brushing your teeth.

Activity 3: Water Use at School

• Step 1: Determine how many different places at your school use water:
  
  
  • How many toilets and urinals are there
  • How many faucets (do not forget outside faucets)
  • How many water fountains
  • How many showers
  • List anything site that uses water: dishwashers, washing machines for laundry, science lab sinks, etc.
• Step 2: Ask the person in charge of maintenance for your school how many gallons of water are used per flush of toilet or urinal.  Ask the person in charge of the kitchen how many times per day the dishwasher is used and how many gallons it uses each time.
• Step 3: Survey a cross-sample of custodians, teachers and students about how often they use school water:
  
  
• How many times do they flush
• How much do they drink
• How often students shower after PE or athletics
• How much water is used to water the plants, the lawn, the football field (if it is at the school)
• How many gallons are used to clean the rooms, the floors, etc.
• Step 4: Estimate from your survey how much water is used by your school in 5 days, then multiply by 4 to determine the amount of water used in one billing period.  Check with your business office to find out:
  
  
• How much the school pays per gallon of water
• How much the school pays during a one month billing period
• How close your estimate was

Activity 4: Conservation at School:

• Step 1: Form teams of students to check all sources of water in your school for leaks, ie: faucets that drip, toilets that run, showers that don’t shut off completely
• Step 2: For every leak found, fill out a maintenance repair form to have the leak fixed
• Step 3: After one month repeat step 1 again.  If the leaks have not been fixed, fill out another maintenance repair form.

Activity 5: How Much Have You Conserved:

• Step 1: Refer to your original water use audit from activity 1.  Now repeat the audit and determine if you are conserving water
• Step 2: If your water use has not decreased, discuss with the group what factors are affecting your conservation attempts.

Remember water is needed for life and we have only 0.03% of the water on Earth for our use!!!