The H20 Explorer Badge

Transcription

1 1 The H20 Explorer Badge For students 11 years and older A water education program for children (11 years and older) featuring hands-on activities and the opportunity to earn an H 2 O Explorer Badge. Dive Into These Water Activities!!! Learn about water, earn a cool badge, and have fun too! The Water Education Advisory Council of western Riverside County wants everyone to learn about the important role water plays in our lives. Whether it s used for bathing, cooking, drinking, water is a precious resource that we cannot live without. To earn an H 2 O Explorer Badge, choose and complete FOUR of the 9 core activities plus the ONE activity listed in the Discover More About Water section ~ Take a Walk at Landscapes Southern California Style SM water conservation education center in Riverside. Then, on page sevem, put a check by the activities that you have successfully completed, and give it to your group leader or teacher to receive your H2O Explorer Badge! Western s website is a wonderful resource you can use and offers links to websites that can help you out on the following activities.

2 2 Explore These Core Activities! (Complete 4 of the 9 core activities) 1 ~ Take a Journey to the Waterworks Find out where your local water supply comes from and how it s delivered to your home. You can do this by contacting your local water company and speaking to its school education representative. Action item: A. Ask them to send you information describing your local water supply. If you re not sure which local water agency serves your home, ask the adults in your family for a copy of your water bill. B. Once you ve gathered this information, either draw a chart showing the water distribution system in your area or give a short oral report to your group or school class. (Water-Wise Tip: See Discover More About Water! on page 6) 2 ~ Discover Different Kinds of Water Learn how much water on earth is saltwater, fresh water, and frozen in glaciers or ice caps. Learn about the water cycle and why it s important. A. Do a simple experiment that will demonstrate the water cycle. Get two jars the same size, masking tape, and a small rock. To see the water cycle in action, simply place some water and a rock in a jar, taping the second jar upside down on top of the first jar. B. Place this model in the sun. In a few hours, you ll notice that water evaporating from the pool of water will condense and form droplets on the sides and the top of the upper jar. This is the same process by which water vapor changes to clouds and rain. 3 ~ Make Every Drop Count Learn about the term conservation. What does it mean? Why is it so important for Southern Californians to conserve water? Action Item: A. Go to your local library or on-line and research the rainfall averages for your town for the last 20 years. If you cannot find information specific to your area, the Los Angeles Times prints an average rainfall chart for Southern California that shows the rainfall averages since Once you ve found this information, draw a chart of the past 20 years.

3 B. List five ways to save water go ahead and do it. Figure out how much water you ll save in a month by turning the faucet off when brushing your teeth*, taking a 5 minute shower*, etc. When you re through, share this information with your family and friends. 3 * Allowing the faucet to run wastes about 2 gallons of water! * 15 minutes = 60 gallons (regular showerhead uses 20 gallons). A 5- minute shower = 20 gallons (low-flow showerhead uses 12 gallons). 4 ~ Write a Great Waste Debate Have you ever thought about what happens to water once it goes down the drain or toilet? Here s your opportunity to find out. Think of all the things that humans add to water like waste, food scraps, or chemicals, just to name a few items. Action item: A. Pretend you live near a river that has been heavily polluted. How would you get rid of the trash, sewage, and grocery carts in the river? B. Write a short play about how you would clean up the river with designated characters as key decision makers. Have classmates or troop members help you with the play by pretending to be the mayor, a city council person, an environmentalist, a water quality engineer, a homeowner, and so on. Have a debate! 5 ~ Explore Sites of Local Interest Southern California is filled with history. Learn a little more about our local history by visiting sites and taking photographs or drawing what you ve just seen. Try this: A. Do this activity only with the approval of your group leader or parent, since they will need to drive you to these sites. See a zanja (an early method of using a canal to bring water) by visiting either Mission San Juan Capistrano, Prospect Park in Redlands, or the Mission San Luis Rey de Franca in Oceanside.

4 B. Visit a reservoir. Reservoirs can be man-made lakes, steel tanks, or concrete structures. Go to lake Mathews in Riverside, off the La Sierra exit from the 91 Freeway, Lake Skinner, which is off Rancho California Road from the 15 Freeway in Temecula, or Diamond Valley Lake, which is off Domenigoni Parkway in Hemet. These reservoirs are man-made lakes. C. Place a large piece of paper on top of the plaque that you find at the site, and using either, chalk, pencil or crayon, make a rubbing of the plaque. 6 ~ Visit a Museum As a class or group, visit a local museum. Look online for a listing of museums, such as the San Bernardino County Museum, Riverside Metropolitan Museum, The Center for Water Education in Hemet/Diamond Valley Lake, or the Louis Rubidoux Nature Center. If they have an education curator, ask for a guided tour and/or hands-on activities your group can do. It never hurts to call ahead so the museum can plan for your visit. As you tour one of these sites, put together a list of five items that impressed you and describe what you learned about water. For example, in the Riverside Municipal Museum ther is a display on the citrus industry. Without the water available in the late 1880 s to the early 1930 s, this area would not have had so many orange groves. 4 7 ~ Become a Scientist for a Day Pretend you re a scientist for a day by finding out what s in your tap water. Call your local water agency and ask for a copy of their latest Water Quality Report. This report lists what s in your water. Then conduct a water taste test: A. Take a few minutes and give your family or friends a water taste test. They will be your test group for the water experiment. Get at least three different types of water including tap water from your faucet at home, bottled mineral water, and distilled water from a grocery store.

5 5 B. Before you conduct the taste test, put all the bottles of water in the refrigerator and chill for several hours. Now cover all the labels on the bottles and mark the bottles A, B, C. C. Give each person in the water taste test the chance to sample each water. Keep track of responses from each person. What did you find out? Report your results back to the test group. 8 ~ Be a Photographer For a Day Use your camera or borrow one for this activity. You will need to take pictures of different types of environments. An environment is the total of all that surrounds us air, water, plant life, animals, humans, and much more. Take at least four different pictures of different types of environment. Print out and glue these photos on a large piece of poster board and write underneath each picture a short paragraph describing what you ve found. What role has water played in making each environment a nicer place to live? Share these photos with your friends and classmates. Then do one other thing select the environment in which you would like to live and explain why. 9 ~ Draw a Water-Wise Poster Congratulations! Having completed some of these lessons, you re well on your way to becoming a water-wise kid. Let everyone know how much you ve learned by doing the activities below. A. Draw a picture showing ways to save water (i.e. turning the faucet off while brushing your teeth, taking a shorter shower, sweeping your driveway and not hosing it down, etc.). B. Once you ve done this, make a list of four water-related items. Then share this information with the rest of the family, or give a short report to your troop or class. C. Once you ve gathered this information, either draw a chart showing the water distribution system in your area or give a short oral report to your group or school class.

6 Discover More About Water! (Complete the 1 activity given below) 6 Take a Hike! Visit the Landscapes Southern California StyleSM water conservation demonstration garden in Riverside. For directions and hours of operation, please call Landscapes Southern California Style SM 450 E. Alessandro Boulevard, Riverside, CA 92508

7 Tah Dah! You did it water-wise trooper! We wish you lots of success in your future water endeavors! 7 Please complete this form and send it in to the address given below or fax it to Public Affairs at to receive your H2O Explorer Badge. Western Municipal Water District Education Programs Meridian Parkway Riverside, CA Name* School/USD Grade Troop Address City, State, Zip Phone * Please list any additional names on a separate sheet. Now place a check by each activity that you ve completed. Dive into these Core Activities (Check at least 4) and Discover More About Water (Check 1) 1 Take a Hike