We use water every day to drink, cook, clean, and so much more. Out of all of the water on Earth, we can only use 1 percent so it is very limited. Cleaning water uses a lot of energy, but we can do our part by using less water at home and school. Let’s investigate your own home to learn how you and your family use and save water.
Now let's collect and analyze some data.
Personal Water Use: Record how much water you used yesterday. This is your best guess. Enter how many times you did the activities at home and at school. Then you can see how many gallons of water you used in one day.
Save water by turning off the water when brushing your teeth and making sure the faucet does not leak or drip. You can save more than 5 gallons every day!
When it rains, water runs off of the roof of our home and into the yard or street. We can use that water instead with a rain barrel or by planting trees to soak it up. Look around the outside of your home to investigate where the rainwater goes.
Do you have a rain barrel that attaches to the side of your home?
Rainwater runs off of most paved surfaces such as driveways and patios into the stormwater system. Grass soaks in rainwater and cleans the water naturally instead, saving energy.
Do you have a driveway or a patio?
Trees have larger roots than grass and can soak up a lot of rainwater, saving it from going into the stormwater system.
If your home or apartment complex has a yard, how many total trees are in the front and/or backyard?
Watering the yard too much wastes clean water that was treated for us to drink. Rainwater can be captured in rain barrels to water the yard later.
Does your family water the yard?
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