Tips for Kids
Learn to Protect and
Conserve Water
WATER FACTS
- There is about the same amount of water on Earth now as there was millions of years ago.
Nearly 97 percent of all the world’s water is salty or otherwise undrinkable. Another 2 percent is locked in ice caps and glaciers. That leaves 1 percent for all our needs. - Water regulates the Earth’s temperature. It also regulates the temperature of the human body!
- The average total home water use for each person in the U.S. is about 50 gallons a day.
- More water is used in the bathroom than any other place in the home.
- A dripping faucet can waste up to 2,000 gallons of water a year.
How much water does it take to:
- Brush your teeth? - 2 to 5 gallons
- Wash the car? - 50 gallons
- Use the dishwasher? - 8 to 15 gallons
- Flush the toilet? - 1.5 to 4 gallons (each flush)
- Take a shower or bath? - 17 to 24 gallons
- Run the washing machine? - 35 to 50 gallons (each load)
TIPS TO PROTECT AND CONSERVE WATER:
- Don't keep the water running while you're brushing your teeth.
- Take shorter showers. Make it a game. Keep an egg timer in the bathroom and see who can get their showers down to three minutes. (And still get clean!)
- Fill a gallon plastic bottle with water and place it in your toilet tank. (The part in the back!) It will take up the same space as the water usually does, but in a year, it will keep 5,000 gallons of water from going down the drain.
- Stop throwing away so many batteries. The mercury in old batteries will eventually leak out and poison the water it runs into. What can you do?
- Buy rechargeable alkaline batteries. They can be charged 25 times. That means 25 batteries you didn't have to buy and throw away.
- Fill a gallon plastic bottle with water and place it in your toilet tank. (The part in the back!) It will take up the same space as the water usually does, but in a year, it will keep 5,000 gallons of water from going down the drain.
- Clean sidewalks and driveways with a broom--not the water hose!
- Don't let the water run constantly while you're washing or rinsing dishes.
- Also, use a stop valve on the hose when you wash the car or dog and are soaping them up rather than leaving it running on the ground. And remember, wash them on the grass, not on the pavement of the patio or driveway.
- Fill a pitcher with tap water and put it in the fridge, rather than running the tap every time you want a cold drink!
- Always scoop your pets poop and throw it in the garbage when taking them for a walk.