Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Spare

Overview: Awareness of water usage and waste in the desert area of El Paso is vitally important to our continued existence in this area.

Goals and objectives:

Understanding local water sources, including groundwater and river water usage and reduction of per capita consumption in homes and school. Students will identify and record number of gallons used in their family showers over a period of one week. Students will collect data, with conservation by time reduction as a priority, during the second week.

 

Prerequisite skills/knowledge:

Vocabulary: aquifer, groundwater, well

El Paso Water Utilities records show an average of 5 gal. of water used per min. in showers.

Skills: Use of calculators, Building a comparison graph

Materials/equipment:

Hardware

Calculators

Other Materials

Paper for constructing graph

Blue/green water drops for graph representation

Information from local water utilities.

 

 

Instructional activities/strategies:

Classroom students divided into teams of 4

Question posed was: If we change the amount of time we spend in a shower how much water can we conserve?

Sequence of lesson: Each team was asked to figure our the amount of gallons of water they would use in a 10 minute shower, based on 5 gallons per minute. The first row of green drops on their graph chart, in increments of their choosing, showed the total number of gallons the team would use. Next they each predicted how long they would be in the shower if they were being water smart. The predictions were to be between 3 and 8 minutes. The total number of gallons per team were now recalculated and the second set of numbers were put on the graph in blue water drop shapes. The amount of water saved by reducing the time was calculated and shown on the graph. Each team presented their findings for the rest of the class.

Assessment options:

At the end of each report the question was asked--What did you learn from this?

At the end of the session each child was given a chart to record the amount of time each of their family members used in the shower for the next four days. That time was converted to gallons at 5 gallons per minute. This information was recorded in their Probe books along with conservation ideas they discussed with their family members. The second week the chart was given again, and now the family was timed again to see how many gallons they could conserve.

Certificates for Water Smart Families were given out, based on the number of family members on the chart, to the family that saved the most the second week. These results were also recorded in their Probe books and along with what conservation methods they used.

Teaching Suggestions/Extensions:

Narrative writing: Three Ways to Conserve Water

Poster contest: Water Conservation

Letter writing: How My Family Can Help El Paso Save Water

E-mail Water Project: Send our results to share with others in the Water Project

Contributors:

Kay Gentry & Judy Courreges
Helen Ball Elementary
Socorro ISD