What if you wanted a glass of water one morning and all of the water was gone? What would you do? Our water is an important natural resource that is steadily being used up. That means you really could wake up one morning and not have any water to drink if more people don't start conserving water. Not only will not having water affect you and your family, but it can also affect animals, plants, and our whole planet. Knowing about conserving water is important because it teaches us how to take care of the resources we have so that our families will always have water to drink. Let's learn more about how we can do this!
Water conservation means doing as much as we can to not waste water when we use it. Only 1% of the water on our planet is water that is safe for us to drink, bathe, and wash with. That means it's a precious resource that we need to conserve as much as possible by getting into good water-using habits every day.
Why Is It Important?
Human beings can live up to two weeks without food but only a few days without water. Plants and animals all need water to stay healthy and grow. If we use all of our water up, we can cause our ecosystem to become unbalanced. Think about fish in a lake near your house: Many houses get their water from local lakes and reservoirs. These bodies of water provide a home to wildlife like fish, and other animals, like deer, depend on that water to drink. If you always leave the water on when you brush your teeth, eventually, you'll use up the water, leaving these animals without their homes or water to drink. If they can't find water somewhere else, they can become very sick. This can create big problems for us in the future, since our whole world depends on these ecosystems to keep the natural cycle of life stable. In addition, when you use less water, your family won't have to spend as much on their water bill, meaning that you'll save money - which means more money for fun stuff!
How Can You Help?
The great thing about water conservation is that it's super-easy to do! Some things are simple, like turning off the faucet while you brush your teeth or taking showers instead of baths. Some things you can ask your parents for help with, like letting them know that a faucet is leaking or even making sure that when you turn on the faucet, you turn it off tightly when you're done. Or you could ask your parents about getting a rain barrel for your backyard so that in the summer, you can water the garden and fill up water balloons with recycled rainwater instead of needing to use the hose. Another great idea is when you get your laundry together to be washed, make sure you have a full load so that the washing machine is full and no water is wasted.
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The Water Cycle
The water cycle is nature's way of recycling water and moving it where it needs to be moved. It starts when the sun shines on the ocean or other bodies of water. The water heats up and becomes water vapor in a process called evaporation. Water vapor is a gas, which means it's much lighter than liquid water, so it floats up into the atmosphere, where it becomes clouds. Clouds are very light, so when the wind blows them, they get moved around, either over farm lands or forests or even your neighborhood! As clouds grow, the water vapor begins to get colder again and condenses back into liquid water. This means the water gets heavier, and eventually, it falls to the ground as rain or snow, which is known as precipitation. The water soaks into the earth and is sucked up by plants or falls into reservoirs and is used by us to clean, bathe, drink, and cook with. The water that isn't used up funnels back into oceans, rivers, and lakes and stays there until the sun warms it again and it evaporates back up into the atmosphere.