Our Plan

By, Laura and Emma

Our plan for the water conservation group is to do an eco audit. We are also going to talk to the janitor about leaving the sprinklers on for less time in certain areas on the field. For the eco audit, we decided to check for leaky faucets and toilets. We will also be checking for leaky pipes and then fixing them. If you don't know what an eco audit is, it is where we do things like checking for leaky faucets and toilets, and thermoses, or other things to help our environment.

How you can conserve water

By, Cora

Water is a very precious resource and if we don’t save it, bad things will happen. There are many ways to save it and one of them is turning off faucets. If you have a leaky faucet, it is not too hard to fix and won’t cost you much. Use every last drop of water and learn to repurpose it. One way you can do that is to catch the water that drips under your colander that you use to wash fruits and vegetables and deposit it into your garden. If you are looking to buy a dishwasher or clothes washer get one that uses high energy- efficiency. Modern dishwashers can save up to 10 gallons of water each load. Also, take shorter showers. The average flow rate for showers is 2.1 gallons per minute. You should cover up your pool. Pool covers not only keep your pool warm every night but they aso trap evaporation. Consider putting in weather-based irrigation controllers that adjust to real world weather conditions and give water only when needed to your garden or even just water by hand. Lastly, try to capture rainwater and use it in your garden. (Information from “11 ways to save water at home” on <Forbes.com>).

We Waste Too Much Water

by Emma and Laura

Water is being wasted everyday by people who leave their water on and take super long showers.So here are some ways that you can help not waste water.

1. Take shorter showers
2. Turn off the sink when your not using it
3. If you see something leaking fix it so it doesn’t waste too much water
4. You should do double dip dishes, it wastes less water. All you do is fill one side of your sink with hot soapy water for washing and one side with normal water for rinsing

Our Eco Audit

By Cora

What We Did

For our eco audit, we went to all the bathrooms at Sierra View Elementary School and checked for leaky faucets and toilets. We also went on the fields and figured out the spots that get to much water.

What We Found

We found 5 leaky toilets and sinks and all the spots that waste too much water. With this information, we went to the school janitor and asked her about fixing the dripping faucets and toilets and about changing the sprinkler times to conserve more water.

How Much Water are Our Drips Wasting?

A private teacher bathroom at our school is wasting 5.38 gallons per day and 1944.79 gallons per year. The intermediate boys bathroom is wasting .5769 gallons per day and 210 gallons per year. The intermediate girls bathrooms are wasting .14 gallons per day and 52.5 gallons per year. The primary boys bathrooms are wasting .5769 per gallons per day and 210 gallons per year. Lastly, one of the water fountains is wasting 2.4 gallons of water per day and 893.5 gallons per year.

Too Much Watering

Certain spots in our school field get watered too long. These spots are by the soccer goals, by the biggest tree next to the leaky water fountain, and next to the baseball backstop.

Water Drops:

by Reed

Old and worn faucet washers and gaskets frequently cause leaks in faucets. A leaky faucet that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year. That's the amount of water needed to take more than 180 showers!

One gallon = 15,140 drips

One liter = 4,000 drips

More than 13% of the nation’s electricity consumption, nearly 521 billion kilowatt hours (kWh), is associated with water- related energy use.ⁱ The energy required to provide water to a running faucet for five minutes is equal to that needed to light a 60-watt bulb for 14 hours.ⁱⁱ Energy used to move, treat, distribute, and use water produces nearly 290 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually – the equivalent of 5% of the nation’s overall emissions,ⁱⁱⁱ or conceptualized as the amount of CO₂ produced annually by 53 million cars.

Leaky Sinks are Bad for the environment

by Emma

Some of the sinks are leaky. That could be a big waste of water. “Leaky faucets waste gallons of water every year, and this could be a costly mistake for both the environment and your wallet,” (“Does A leaky faucet waste”)."When a homeowner has a leaky faucet it's like putting money down the drain! Though the earth is covered by water, only 1 percent is usable, so conservation of water is vital to our survival”, (“Does A Leaky Faucet Waste”). Wow that is terrible!

Letter to Ms. LaRhonda

By, Laura

After we did our eco-audit and research, we emailed our custodian, Ms. LaRhonda, telling her what we found.

Dear Ms. LaRhonda

My name is Laura and my class and I are doing the Cal Water H2O Challenge. One of the things that we did was go to all the bathrooms and check the toilets and sinks to make sure they weren’t leaking or dripping. Some of the ones that we checked were leaking and I wanted to tell you where they are so you can help fix them. We also calculated how much water was being wasted if we didn’t fix it.

Secret bathroom sink (art storage room)

• 37 drips a minute
• 53,280 drips a day
• 2,220 drips an hour
• 5.38 gallons a day
• 1944.79 gallons a year!

Intermediate boys sink ( closest to the door )

• 4 drips a minute
• 240 in a day
• 5,560 drips in a day
• 0.576 gallons a day
• 210 gallons a year

Water fountain by Room 5

• 17 drips in a minute
• 10,620 drips in a hour
• 212,640 drips in a day
• 2.4 gallons a day
• 893.5 gallon a year

Primary boys bathroom (closest to the door)

• 4 drips in a minute
• 240 drips in a hour
• 5,560 drips in a day
• 0.576 gallons a day
• 210 gallons a year

Intermediate girls farthest from the door

• 1 drip in a minute
• 60 drips in a hour
• 1,440 drips in a day
• 0.14 gallon a day
• 52.5 gallons a year

If we fix these leaks we can save 3312 gallons of water a year!!!

We also noticed that there were a lot of spots in the grass that are wet all the time, which means that they are being watered too much. If you can change the sprinkler time in those spots that would be great! We did some research and shady spots should be watered half the time of sunny spots.

The spots we found were:

• Middle of the soccer field
• Under the trees by Mrs. Carlisle’s room
• The spot in the baseball diamond by Room 5
• Under the solar panels

Thank you so much for your time and all you do!

Sincerely,

Laura and Room 12