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What is water scarcity?
What is water scarcity?
Water scarcity, both natural and of human origin, is the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands within a region. Much of it is wasted, polluted and unsustainably managed. A number of places and regions are chronically short of water because its use at the global level has increased more than twice as fast as the population over the last century. Pressure on water resources is increasing in several parts of the world, especially in China, India, Pakistan, in the Middle East and many countries and regions of Africa.
The goal of the following lessons will be to teach students about water scarcity and how much of the earth’s water is actually available for daily human use. By examining situations in various countries, students will learn the high demand for water around the globe, and compare the ways in which it is distributed and used in different countries.
Learning Objectives
After completing this lesson students will be able to:
Understand the problem of water scarcity around the globe. (Science)
Identify, locate, and draw/paint the countries and continents on a map, and their respective water shortages. (Art)
Compare and contrast different countries and their access to water, and calculate the amount of water they use. (Math)
Understand how they can conserve water, and what we can do to conserve water in our own communities. (Science & Technology)
Design and build a project to help conserve water in our community. (Engineering)
Understand the problem - Unit 1
The teacher will discuss with the students what water is used for and why it is so important. First, the students will have a class discussion to see what they already know about the topic. If needed, the teacher will guide the discussion with the questions below: a) Why do we need water? (ex. We cannot survive without clean water to drink every day. We also depend on water for many other things in our daily lives, in addition to agriculture, industry, etc.) b) What type of activities is water used for? Where and when do you use water the most? c) Where do you think the water that you use comes from?
Next, the students will then be arranged into groups. Using the information from the discussion the students will then be tasked with finding out more information on their own about a) why countries are experiencing water shortages? b) Do you think it is possible to run out of water? c) What would happen if our water supply was reduced?
Finally, the students will be then be tasked with finding out the global water shortages around the world, as well as other facts about the countries they select. Students can be given separate countries to investigate, so that everyone does a different country.
The students will have books, tablets, and computers available to help them with researching the topic further.
Water Shortages around the Globe - Unit 2
The next lesson, the students will use the information they have found on each countries water index rating, and then they will be split into groups once more. The teacher will use a large map of the Earth and ask each group to present their countries. They will point out the location of their countries and tell their classmates what continents they are on, what the climate is like there, and their fun facts about each country. Once the presentation and discussions are over, the students will offer feedback to each other and the teacher will mark the students according to his own rubric.
Finally, once the students are done, they will come together to draw and paint a large map of the world on the classroom wall. The students will work together to paint the countries in similar colors according to the water shortage ratings they have found. Below is an example of what the map may look like.
Compare and Contrast - Unit 3
Students will now have to focus on one country they researched earlier. If it is too difficult for each student to do one country on their own, they make work in groups to focus on a smaller number of countries. The teacher will ask the class questions on how they think water access for that country differs from other parts of the world. Their answers should be based on their research, and also group brainstorming. For example, how much rainfall do they get? Where does their water come from? Do they have plumbing or sanitation systems? Is pollution a problem?
Next, the teacher will explain that water is a limited resource because the Earth never produces any more then what it already has. Students will find how many gallons of water an average person uses per day in their country. Something like this: Kenya- 12 gallons per person/per day, United States- 150 gallons per person/per day, Germany- 50 gallons per person/per day, etc.
Students will now have to decide how they want to spend their daily water allowance. Students will need to think about what they really need to use their water for, especially in countries that do not have very much. Below are examples of water usage:
· Bath: 50 gallons
· Shower: 2 gallons per minute
· Teeth brushing: 1 gallon
· Hands/face washing: 1 gallon
· Dishwashing by hand: 5 gallons/load
· Clothes washing (machine): 10 gallons/load
· Toilet flush: 3 gallons
· Glasses of drinking water: 8 oz. per glass (1/16th of a gallon)
Finally, discuss with students what they think are the most important things to use their water allotment on. Also ask them if there are alternatives choices to items on this list. For example, using an outhouse or latrine, washing out of a bucket instead of using running water, hand-washing clothes in a tub, etc. Have them examine what they are using their water for in comparison to other countries, and how much they are conserving or wasting compared to other countries.
Conserving water - Unit 4
Students will now discuss what they have learned about the scarcity of water. Include the following questions in your discussion: a) Were you surprised by the little amount of earth’s total water available to humans? b) Why is it important to conserve this water? c) How and why does water availability differ around the globe? d) What areas did you notice that had less access to water? Which had more? e) Do you think water should be more evenly distributed? And finally, What can we do to decrease the amount of water used?
Now that your students have an understanding of the scarcity of water and the inequality of access to water. They now must research different projects and technology that is being used or developed to help some water shortages around the world. A few examples will be recommended to them, but they will also be encouraged to do their own research as well.
https://solarimpulse.com/water-scarcity-solutions#
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-of-water-scarcity.php
https://www.epa.gov/watersense/start-saving
Students will use a device such as the flume water monitor at school to see how much water is used by their school. Once the students have got comfortable using it. They teacher will schedule a field trip to a local apartment complex so that the students can monitor the water usage of the people in their community. The students will then use this data to try and calculate the water usage of apartment complexes within their city. Once the students have finished their research, they will discuss the technology that they have found and how it can incorporated into their local communities to conserve water.
Design and build a project - Unit 5
Unit 5 will now use all of the previous information learned to help the students make a project to conserve water within their own communities. One of the easiest way for water collection in Korea would be rainwater, as Korea has a strong rainy season in the summer. The teacher will show students different links on how they can design their own rainwater collection devices, the design of the devices can range from simple o complicated depending on the students participating. A few simple examples can be found in this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFUsi3wIr4k. More complicated projects can be seen here - https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/methods-of-rainwater-harvesting.php.
Once the students have decided on their projects, and finished building them. They will then take test them at school, before giving them to their local community.
Review and Conclusion - Unit 6
Students should now have a better understanding of the scarcity of water and how it is shared with everyone across the globe. They will have a better understanding of how much water is used in their own country, as well as how much they use on a personal level. They will also learn the locations of other countries and continents, and have a better understanding of other countries’ water usage. Students will have learned the importance of water conservation, and how they can help conserve water. They will also have the knowledge to help teach other people the importance of saving water.
Using this knowledge, working in groups the students will make presentations and present them to other students who were not part of their class. Each group will give feedback on the other groups, and they will discuss together what they did well and what they can improve in the future. To end the unit, the teacher will provide feedback to all of the students using their own personal feedback. The feedback will be scored according to the teachers own rubric, it will have a number and a comment section in the feedback to give the student as much information possible on how they did throughout the project.
Below is sample rubric layout that a teacher could use:
References:
https://solarimpulse.com/water-scarcity-solutions#
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-of-water-scarcity.php
https://www.epa.gov/watersense/how-we-use-water
https://www.epa.gov/watersense/start-saving
https://thewaterproject.org/why-water/water-crisis
https://www.charitywater.org/donate/water-project-sponsorship
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/methods-of-rainwater-harvesting.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFUsi3wIr4k
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/methods-of-rainwater-harvesting.php.
https://www.instructables.com/Stand-alone-rain-collector/
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/simple-rubric-examples-for-teachers.html
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