Water
Although most of the Planet Earth is made up of water TOCK was surprised to find that less than 1% of that water can be used by people, plants or animals because most of it contains salt or is frozen. So that is like having 100 bottles of water and only one of them is OK to drink.
Some people waste large amounts of water or pollute it with nasty chemicals or plastics so we need to be really smart and think about how we can take better care of what we have.
TOCK has found some simple ways we can help
Turn off the tap
It’s great to brush your teeth but sometimes it is easy to leave the tap on all of the time whilst you are doing this. This wastes a massive 30 litres of water every day. That’s about the same as 128 glasses of water each day being poured straight down the sink. So simply turning off the tap whilst you are brushing your teeth will save a lot of water.
Shower rather than Bath
TOCK has found having a shower uses a lot less water than taking a bath.
1 bath uses the same water as 4 showers.
To make it more fun, find a fun 5 minute song and sing along when you have a shower.
If you had 20 showers instead of baths, that would save enough water to fill a fire engine.
Collect rainwater
Collect rain water in a large container in the garden to use to water your plants.
Saving Water in the Kitchen
Ask your family to only set off the dishwater when it is full.
When your family clean the vegetables for lunch and dinner get them to catch the water in a container and use it to water your plants.
Water is constantly moving around the Earth in a cycle, this is called ‘The water cycle’. Although it is moving around it all takes time. So if we waste too much water there may not be enough water available when we need to use it.
If you want to learn more about the water cycle and try your own fun experiment click on the picture below:
Smart water song
Smart water song courtesy of www.smartwater.org.nz
The Smart Water Song encourages pre-school children to save water and turn off leaky taps. It is written and performed by well-known NZ children’s entertainer, Chris Lam Sam from THE FUNKY MONKEYS. You can find the lyrics here.
Water our precious resource
Informative NZ video for primary school children courtesy of www.smartwater.org.nz
This video was produced for Smart Water U.N. World Water Day
Water play ideas
The following booklet has been supplied courtesy of www.smartwater.org.nz and shows some great ideas for having fun with water in a sustainable way…
