How Much Water Do We Use at School, at Home, as a District … Years 3-6

Short , Simple and Fun exercises for to promote an interest in Mathematics

Strands: Measurement, Number

Strong Links to Oral and Visual Language and Environmental Education

GETTING STARTED

Divide students into groups and assign each group an area of the school, (eg: classroom, staff room) and an area in the school grounds.

Have students locate and list all utensils and appliances which use water.

What is the capacity in litres of each appliance and utensil?

How many times per day and per week (on average) are these appliances used? Total each one up to give a total in water usage per week.

How will the students calculate daily water usage daily in toilets? Brainstorm solutions, eg

Bail out the cistern with a small plastic jug and measure the amount of water it holds by using a bucket.
Conduct a survey to find how many times per day students flush the toilet. How many times per hour does the urinal toilet flush? What is the capacity of its cistern?

If outside watering is used in the school grounds, challenge the students to come up with a way of calculating the amount of water used per hour, eg:

Place the hose or nozzle in a bucket or watering can for a minute. Measure the amount of water used in a minute. Multiply by the number of minutes in an hour to calculate usage per hour.

MAKING OUR CALCULATIONS

Have students calculate the following:

The average water usage of each utensil and appliance during the day
The daily amount of water used in classrooms in the school
The daily amount of water used in toilets during a day
The daily amount of water used in the school grounds during an average day
Extend this to the amount of water used in a week, in a month and during a year.
Display all results on a wall chart. What information can the students gain from the results on the chart, and what statements can they make? eg:

The Toilet blocks use the most water inside the school buildings
The staff room uses more water than any classroom
The newly grassed area uses most water per day in the school grounds

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

Contact your local council and invite a representative to talk to the class about the source of water for the district. Find out the following:

Where does the water for our district come from? (It's Source)
How pure is our water and what treatment is given to our water before it flows to our taps?
How many litres per week of water on average does our district use? How does this differ between times of the year?
Are there any restrictions placed on our district water usage? Why is this necessary? How effective is this?
Have each student calculate the amount of water used by their household during a period of a week.

Brainstorm and discuss solutions that the class and school can put into place to conserve water usage. Put these solutions into operation and have one group per week measure and report back on any savings made. Give a school water usage report once per week at assembly..