Lesson 18 – Beyond the Watershed – Water Use and Conservation
This is Lesson 18 (“Water Use and Conservation”) from the “Drinking Water: Protecting the Source / Beyond the Watershed” curriculum. Students examine agricultural and individual water use in the U.S. through a team quiz activity (“Water by the Numbers”) and calculate their personal water footprint using an online calculator, then discuss water conservation at home. The lesson includes background content, an interest approach, slides, a homework reading to prepare for Lesson 19, and a true/false assessment.
At a glance
- Learning objectives
-
- 18.1 Describe agricultural water use in the U.S.
- 18.2 Estimate their water consumption and identify ways to conserve water at home.
- Time required
- Instruction time for this lesson: 50 minutes to complete the Water by the Numbers activity (18.1). An additional 25-30 minutes is needed if the activity Calculating Your Water Footprint (18.2) is used as a classroom activity instead of homework.
- Grade level
- 9-12
- Materials
-
- Computer
- LCD projector
- Access to Internet
- Slides SW.18.TM.A Percentage of Usage by User Type
- SW.18.TM.B Water Use in U.S.
- SW.18.TM.C Water Use Answers
- SW.18.TM.D Most Water Used by States
- SW.18.TM.E Most Water Used by States Answers
- SW.18.TM.F Water Use for California Foods
- SW.18.TM.G Water Use for California Foods Answers
- SW.18.AS.Homework: A Primer on Climate Change – One copy for each student
- Paper and pencil for each team
- Key Terms
- Climate change; Industrial; Irrigation; Public supply; Thermoelectric power
Downloads & Links
Aligned Standards
National Science Education Standards for Grades 9 – 12
- Content Standard AAbilities Necessary to Do Scientific Inquiry: Design and conduct scientific investigations.
- Content Standard AAbilities Necessary to Do Scientific Inquiry: Design and conduct scientific investigations.
- Content Standard FScience in Personal and Social Perspectives: Natural Resources – Human populations use resources in the environment in order to maintain and improve their existence. Natural resources have been and will continue to be used to maintain human populations.