How is clean and accessible drinking water in Philadelphia a civic responsibility?

Water is essential for all living things,  including us!

Fresh water is naturally occurring water that is not salty, and is suitable for consumption if clean or processed and represents only a small fraction of water on the planet. 

Water cycles on planet Earth over and over again—we can’t make new water! 

Some freshwater is locked in ice and underground and is not always easily accessible for human use.

We rely on water daily in both obvious and hidden ways, from hydration to food production, industry and manufacturing. Students will discover what it means to calculate their “water footprint”, that is  how much water it takes to produce food, energy and all our stuff…what we are calling their water footprint.

Use the water use worksheet to calculate direct water use students can calculate their personal water footprint.This activity can be done individually or as a class. If you do it as a class, choose a fictional household with  “average” characteristics to answer each question. Students can think about their own households in comparison but it can be used as a tool to discuss direct water use  (note that this is about half way through the calculator survey) .

We think of Planet Earth as the Blue Planet,

Let’s explore and explain how much of water on Planet Earth is FRESHWATER.  Explain that there is a difference between salt water and ”fresh” as well as consumable or “potable” Humans can only consume Freshwater . This is a big deal when you discover the percentage of freshwater to saltwater onon the planet.

Use this graphic for the following group activity: USGS Bar Graphs–Where is the Earth’s Water? You can show it in Step 2 (after they predict)

Step 1: Each group has the same length of cash register tape or a strip of paper

Imagine that is all the water in the world.

As a group decide how much of all of the water on the planet is freshwater and put a mark on your paper to represent that portion.

Step 2  Review the graphic

Now students go back to their cash register tape and (if needed) revise your mark placement using a different color.

Was your estimate close to the actual amount of water we have to use?

Why did you make the guess you did?

Ask where most of the water on earth is located (it’s in the oceans). If necessary, refer to a map or globe.

After this activity, students will discover that there is even a smaller amount of this freshwater that is available for human consumption. Remind the class of their earlier guesses at how much water is available to humans and compare with the actual percent available.

Class discussion:

In this activity, students discovered that only a very small percentage of water on earth  represents freshwater (from lakes and streams) that is not polluted or otherwise unavailable for use. This amount is about one percent of the total amount of freshwater on the planet. In the next few classes, they will see how this precious resource is managed in a city like Philadelphia, a place  with over 1 million people who depend on a clean, reliable, safe water supply every single day.

Ask students if they are surprised by how little freshwater we actually have and if this changes their attitude about it or their habits in how they use it in any way.

Construct an argument, in writing or as a presentation, supported by evidence, to address the question:

Why do we need to take care of our shared waterways in our watershed?

What actions can we take to protect our freshwater resources?

Students analyze the implications of the data we collected in order to infer the impacts of our use of water on a larger scale.

Students may calculate the economic impact of water use.

Construct an argument, in writing or as a presentation, supported by evidence, to address the question:

Why do we need to take care of our shared waterways in our watershed?

What actions can we take to make an impact ?

Compare water consumption (water use) and water access in the United States to other developed countries and developing countries (define developed and developing ) .

Is there a disparity between water consumption and access  in developed and developing countries?

This project can include a discussion and explanation about the UN Sustainable Development Goals that the UN developed to address the 21st century problems.