Water for health

We all know that water is good for you but a lot of people don't know that not drinking enough water causes a number of problems such as: - dizziness - headaches - kidney problems - constipation - dehydration (lack of water)

Our bodies need water to:

- clean the blood passing through the kidneys - keep body temperatures even - help digest food - carry food and oxygen to body parts/organs - prevent salt from building up in the body - remove waste products from food and drink - help remove carbon dioxide from our muscles

QUIZ: How much water do you use?

How much do you know about the amount of water we use?

1. How much water is used by someone taking a shower? 18 litres 22 litres 27 litres2. How much water is used by someone taking a bath? 80 litres 95 litres 105 litres3. How much water is used each time you flush the toilet? 5 litres 9 litres 10 litres4. How much water is used when you wash your face and clean your teeth? 4 litres 6 litres 9 litres5. How much water is used when you get a drink? 0.5 litre 1 litre 222 litres6. Washing clothes in a washing machine uses on average: 80 litres 100 litres 110 litres7. Washing dishes by hand uses how much water? 7.5 litres 8 litres 8.5 litres8. How much water does a garden sprinkler use each minute? 7 litres 8 litres 9 litres

Answers: 1. 27 litres 2. 80 litres

3. 9 litres 4. 4 litres 5. 1 litre

6. 80 litres 7. 7.5 litres

8. 9 litres

Give yourself two points for each correct answer.If you scored:12 - 16 pointsCongratulations! You know a lot about the amount of waterthat you use.

8 - 10 pointsYou know a little bit about the amount of water that you use. Look at the questions that you did not score any points and try to remember the answers.

Less than 8 pointsCould do better!Try this quiz at home with members of your family to check how muchthey know about using water.

Water in the House

Water use investigation

This investigation took 7 days to complete.For this task we prepared suitable tables so that we could gather information to show the amount of water used in our home.Before we began students thought of all the different uses we have in the home for water, e.g. having a shower, watering the garden, cleaning the car, washing dishes, even boiling potatoes for dinner.Students told their family about the investigation and asked them to mark a tally mark down on one of the tables whenever they used water. Our tables looked like this:

Water use investigation worksheet 1

Water use at home - water record sheet Room 1 - Bathroom

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Shower

Bath

Brushing teeth

Washingface/hands

Washing clothes

Toilet

Others

Room 2 - Kitchen

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Soup

Drinking

Coffee/ tea

Boiling vegetables

Washing dishes

Others

Outside the house

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Washing the car

Others

At the end of the seven days, the students brought their tables back to school.

Worksheet 2: Complete this table with your results.

How you usewater

Averageamount of use

Number oftimes

Total amountof water used

Taking a shower27 litres perminute

Taking a bath 80 litres

Flushing a toilet 9 litres

Washing face,hands, cleaningteeth

4 litres perminute

Getting a drink 1 litre per minute

Washing clothesby hand

15 litres perminute

Washing clothesin a washingmachine

80 litres perminute

Washing dishesby hand

7.5 litres perminute

Washing car witha hose

15 litres perminute

Total amount used by your family

- Using the figures provided on your table calculate how much water your family used for each purpose.- Now calculate how much water your family used in a week.- Draw your graph and present it for display.

Fascinating FactsWater is needed to grow not only everything we eat but also to produce almost all the products we use every day. This water is either supplied by nature as precipitation and/or added by man during the growing/production process. You can't tell by the size of a product or the appearance of a food how much water was actually used to produce the item.

1 kilo of rice = 2300 litres of water

1 litre of orange juice = 23 litres of water

1 kilo of meat = 16 000 litres of water

1 cup of coffee = 140 litres of water

1 cotton T-shirt = 2700 litres of water

1 piece of paper = 11 litres of water

1 pair of shoes = 14 200 litres of water

1 plastic bottle = 75 litres of water