Water Power Point Presentation for the NT Years 5 and 6

8/6/2019 Water Power Point Presentation for the NT Years 5 and 6

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/water-power-point-presentation-for-the-nt-years-5-and-6 1/23



•

Everybody seems to betalking about water. Andit’s no wonder why. Justhave a quick look atwhat’s happening withour water here in the

Northern Territory.

• Australian households(and that includes us inthe Northern Territory)use the most water per household in the world!



NT

The averageperson in

Darwin might

use up to

341,000 litres

(that’s around

eight backyard

swimming pools)

worth of water

each year!

Rest of world The world average is 57,000 litres!

We’re nearly using six-times asmuch water as most of the other

people on the planet!



• How can it be that weuse so much water?

• Well we do use a fair bit

of water around thehouse, washing the

dishes, watering the

garden, cleaning our clothes and flushing the

toilet.



• But we are getting much, much better at saving water

at home. So how come we're still using so much

more water than the rest of the world?

• It turns out that a lot of the water that we use we don’t

even know we are using. We can’t even see this

water that we use. What are we talking about?



• Almost everything we useand eat needs water to beproduced. It’s not writtenon the label and we can’tsee this water in theclothes that we wear or inthe food that we eat. We

don’t even get the chanceto drink it!

• But it was needed to makethe clothes and the food,and so it still countstowards the total amount

of water that we use. Wecall this water ‘VirtualWater’.



•

What is 'virtual water'? Well we think it means thewater that is hidden in our food or other products thatwe use. It means the water that was needed to growor make our food or those products that we use.

• For example, it’s the water that was used to grow the

wheat that was used to make the flour for the breadthat you ate for breakfast today. And the butter thatyou spread on your bread? Well, to make the butter the cows that gave the milk needed to be given water for drinking, and needed food to eat, and this foodneeded water to grow.





• So you’re probablythinking that it can’t bethat much water thatgoes into making all thestuff that we eat andconsume.

• Well, actually, it is quitea lot. Look at thefollowing list of productsand look at how much

water each one uses.



• 1 glass of milk (200ml) - 75 litres

•

1 slice of bread (30g) - 40 litres• 1 slice of bread (30g) with cheese (10g) - 90 litres

• 1 apple (100g) - 70 litres

• 1 glass of orange juice (200ml) - 170 litres

• 1 bag of potato chips (200g) - 185 litres

• 1 egg (40g) - 135 litres• 1 hamburger (150g) - 2,400

• 1 pair of leather shoes - 8,000 litres

• 1 cotton t-shirt - 2,000 litres

• 1 sheet A4 paper - 10 litres

• 1 microchip - 32 litres

• 1kilogram of beef - 16,000 litres



• So that’s where a lot of our water goes. But that’s not

all. The amount of rainfall we get in this country has

been changing lately.

• The picture on the next slide shows the average

rainfall over the last three years around the country. It

has been pretty wet in some places but in others ithas been the driest it has ever been

• You will see that many parts of the Northern Territory

have recorded some of the highest rainfalls ever. The

red shows the places with the least rainfall while theblue shows the places with the most.



Rainfall in Australia for the last three years



• Why have these water levels been dropping? Well asyou probably already know, we’ve been having a very

bad drought for quite some time now: about 10 years

actually.



• The problem is that it lookslike this might not just be adrought, but might actuallybe the first signs of climatechange. More and morescientists now believe thatthe NT’s climate patterns

are changing.

• This means that the dryspell that we’re havingmight never really end:

instead, this might be thenew climate.



• According to CSIRO this will affect:

– The ability of irrigators to produce food;

– The natural environment and its plants and animals in our cities and our rural regions;

– The performance and practices of businesses and

industries; and – The natural or environmental flows in our rivers and

wetlands.



• On top of that, the water that we do have isgetting more polluted.

• You’ve probably seenrubbish floating in theriver or creek. This is

pretty bad for our waterways. But there arealso tiny bits of pollutionthat are sometimesimpossible to see but

that are really, really badfor our water.



• Where might these tiny bits of pollution come from?



• The tiny bits of pollutioncan be found in the and

grease that run-off the

streets in the rain, they

can come from leaking

sewage pipes, fromaccidental spills by

factories, and from cow

and dog poo washing

into the rivers and

creeks.



• This can start to sound a lot like very bad news. But

don’t worry; it’s not all bad.

•

There are lots and lots of people all around the worldworking hard to make sure that we’ll have enough

water to drink and grow food with, and the water thatwe have is clean and healthy.



• One idea some people havehad for making more water

has been to recycle sewageand turn it into water thatcan be used around thehouse and used inbusinesses.

• You may have heard thatthis was a recent hot issueover in Queensland.

• The town of Toowoombarecently rejected a proposalto drink recycled sewage:

even if it was clean, wouldyou drink recycled sewage?



• So maybe you’re not quiteready to drink recycled

sewage. But there are manyother things you can do tohelp save water and protectour waterways.

• Start by thinking about whatyou would most like to seehappen or change: whatwould that be? How do youthink you go about makingthat happen? What little

things could you do to helpyou reach that goal?



• Write down a few

sentences for each coolgreen action thatdescribes what you hopeto do. If you’re a bit stuckfor ideas, have a look atthe next slide for some of the tips that we’re doingto to save water.

• Using the Cool Green Hero Checklist that we have

provided, or using one that you have created

yourself, think up at least two actions around water

that will help our environment and that you think

you can achieve within the next six months.



Tips for saving water

• Fix any dripping taps or leaky toilets. A leaking tap can waste asmuch as "

• 20,000 litres of water a year. Enough said. "

• Likewise the dual-flush toilet. If itʼs yellow let it mellow, if itʼs brownflush it down - with a half flush. "

• While weʼre being short but sweet, take shorter showers. "

•

And obviously, turn off the tap while youʼre brushing your teeth. Weknow you know, but youʼd be amazed... "

• Install a rainwater tank! Your roof is more efficient than a dry damcatchment and youʼll save on water bills. "

• Save some shower water and share it with the lawn. Or the streettrees in front of your house. "

• For more tips and more information on water visit the Our Cool

School site.• Did we forget any? Send us your tips and we’ll post them on the

Our Cool School website!

Documents

Water Power Point Presentation for the NT Years 5 and 6