“Help me protect our water supply and conserve water to prevent a shortage of clean water. We need to prevent trash and pollution from contaminating Earth’s oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, and aquifers.”
Learning about my Drinking Water
- Work with your school to organize a field trip to your local water district.
- Ask them what makes water safe to drink?
- Make a list of the contaminants in water that need to be removed to make water safe to drink. This is something Rainey likes to do.
- Label the drinking water fountains and faucets in your school.
- Keep track of how often they are tested.
- You may need to ask your teacher or principal to get this information.
- Make a chart and share it with your classmates, teacher, and principal.
- Keep track of how often they are tested.
- Learn the source of your drinking water.
- What are the drinking water sources in your area?
- Who manages or owns the water? Is it a water company, local water district or private well?
- Can you invite a representative to your school or community center?
- If you cannot talk to someone write a letter. Ask these questions:
- Is our water safe to drink? Explain why.
- What threatens our water’s safety?
- What can kids and parents do to help the water remain safe to drink and use?
- Once you learn where your drinking water comes from, make a map to show how the water comes from its source to your tap at home. Use it to teach your classmates.
- Make sure people understand that only clean water is safe and good for your health.
- If you visit some drinking water sources, such as lakes, reservoirs, or streams, check to make sure the areas are clean and free of pollution.
Water Conservation: What can I do?
- Determine how much water you use at home.
- Ask your parents for a copy of their water bill and have them show you how much water your household consumes each month.
- Determine how water at home is used.
- Make a list of ways water is used at home.
- Water is commonly used for drinking, cooking, washing, and bathing.
- Water is also used for watering plants and yards.
- Determine if any water is being wasted.
- Water is commonly wasted from leaky faucets, letting the faucet run, watering lawns, or washing down patios.
- Identify ways you can conserve water at home.
- What can be done by you and your family to conserve water?
- Encourage your family to replace water-thirsty lawns with drought-tolerant plants. They will save money and conserve water.
- Start a water conservation program at home based on what you learned.
- Check your water bill to see how much water your family is saving each month.
- Keep track of water conservation practices you are doing at home.
- Can you conserve more? How?
Protecting Water: Keep Pollutants Out
- Make sure you and your family, do not flush or pour household products down the toilet or drain.
- Examples of household products that are hazardous include various types of polish (furniture, silver, brass, nail), paints, motor oils and fluids, solvents (oil or petroleum-based liquids such as paint thinner), pharmaceuticals, and other toxic materials.
- Return unused pharmaceuticals to your local pharmacy or drug store.
- Your sewage goes to a waste treatment plant to remove solids, sewage, and bacteria.
- The treated wastewater is typically discharged into an ocean, river, lake or some other water resource.
- Toxic chemicals and pharmaceuticals remain in the treated wastewater and will contaminate and pollute water resources.
- Prevent household products from spilling onto the ground. You must prevent these products from flowing down the curb and entering a storm drain or nearby waterway. You also need to prevent household products from contaminating the soil.
- Stormwater or water collected in a storm drain discharges into an ocean, river, or lake without being treated.
- If the stormwater becomes polluted from a household product, then the water in the ocean, river, or lake becomes polluted.
- Contaminants in the soil can move deeper into the soil and eventually contaminate groundwater that exists in aquifers below the ground surface.
- Groundwater or well water is a source of drinking water for many people.
- Stormwater or water collected in a storm drain discharges into an ocean, river, or lake without being treated.
- Sweeping and picking up garden waste (leaves), trash and dirt help protect our water from pollution.
- Stormwater runoff from rain, irrigation water, sprinklers, washing cars, rinsing equipment or patios can pick up and carry pollutants and trash that are present on the ground surface.
- This water carrying the leaves, trash, and dirt eventually flows into a storm drain, lake, river or ocean and contaminates the water supply.