Water

 

Welcome to the Water Eco-topic. Below the Water Facts you will find information about:

• Why Water is an Eco-topic
• The Water Cycle
• Water in the World
• The Many Uses For Water
• Water in Scotland
• What You Can Do 

 

 

Why Water is an Eco-topic

 

Water is vital for life on Earth, it really is amazing stuff. In Scotland we have taken water very much for granted for a long time. In recent years people have started to realise how important it is that we take care of the water we have. Much water has been polluted and wasted and it takes time and effort to deal with this. It is not only us who need water. Water is a home for many plants and animals who need healthy clean water to survive. This subject will only become more important as you grow up so it’s important to understand all about it now.

 

 

Choosing water as an Eco-topic will involve learning about water and how it is used around the world. You may like to do a water audit to find out how much water your school uses in a day, week, month and in the year. By learning about the importance of water you can think about ways to use it wisely, save it and prevent wasting it. This will make a huge difference to the way you think about water and will help you to help the world.

 

The Water Cycle 

 

Water is renewable (to find out more about renewable and non-renewable in the energy Eco-topics). After it has been used it returns into the water cycle and can be used again.

 

Water is constantly on the move; in the sky as clouds, falling down to land or ocean as rain or snow, running over land as rivers or slow moving glaciers, sitting in lochs, trickling through the ground and gathering in big pools called ‘aquifers’, being drunk by plants and animals and evaporating back into the sky from the surface of oceans, lochs, rivers and even from plants and trees. Below is a picture of the water cycle.

 

  

            (From: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycleplacemat.html )

 

Water in the World

 

If water is used sensibly there would be enough for everybody in the world but there is a real imbalance between the amount of water that is available and used in different countries. In Scotland we may each use about 300litres of water everyday and almost a third of that is flushed down the toilet. In India, a typical person uses 25litres each day. It is estimated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that we need 100litres a day to cook and clean. So we in Scotland are using lots more water than people in other places of the world.

 

In the map below, the number of people that have access to safe drinking water is shown in 2004. The darker the colour, the more people that have water to drink. The white arrow is pointing to Scotland and we can see that it is dark blue, so the majority of people in Scotland have water to drink. The lighter blue shows countries with less water to drink and it’s in these places where life can be very difficult.

 

 

    Global Level: Drinking water coverage per country total access in 2004

         (From: http://www.wssinfo.org/en/22_wat_global.html) 

 

Not having enough water is a very serious problem. Infact lack of safe water and sanitation is the world’s single largest cause of illness. In 2002, five years ago, 42% of households had no toilets and one in six people had no access to safe water. A huge number of children, around 4,500, die every day across the world because they don’t have clean water to drink. In many countries, it is the job of women and girls to carry the water supply to the home for use. On average, women and girls walk 6kilometres a day, carrying 20litres of water so they don’t have much time or energy for school or even to play.

 

(From: http://www.wssinfo.org/en/142_currentSit.html)

 

Water is Used in Many Different Ways

 

 

 

 

 

·        At home: showering, washing clothes in the washing machine, washing dishes, watering the garden, to flush the toilet, cooking with and drinking

·        For industry: cooling and washing in factories

·        On farms: for the animals to drink, to wash equipment, to water the land

·        To make energy: steam or dams to drive turbines

·        For fun: swimming, boating, paddling, fishing

·        A home: for fish and other animals and plants to live in

 

 

Water in Scotland 

 

In Scotland, having enough water is not something we have had to worry about in the past, we often complain because of too much wet weather. In other places in the world, water is very scarce and some countries just don’t have enough water. In countries that do have water, much is wasted or lost. In both situations, water is often polluted. From now on, it will become more and more important to use water sensibly and we can start today at home and in our schools.

 

What can you do?

 

 

 

 

Here are some ideas for action that your schools may like to take. Can you think of other ideas?

 

·        Put water hippos in your toilet cistern to reduce the amount of water lost on each flush.

 

·        Turn off the tap and make sure you never leave a tap dripping.

 

·        You could create some posters to display beside sinks to remind fellow pupils to turn the taps off properly.

 

·        Gather rainwater for the garden.  If you have space in your school grounds, why not sit out some large basins to collect rainwater for use in the garden. Better still you could collect water in used plastic bottles.

·        Reuse old drinks. If you have a drink of water but can’t finish it off, why not pour it into a collection bucket for use in the garden.

 

·        Conduct a water audit to find out how much water your schools is using and to discover where you can make savings.

 

·        Invite the water board to install a water metre to measure the volume of water that goes into your school.