Water Cycle
Water is vital because you need it not only to survive but you need it for things like washing and livestock and farming. It is important to conserve water because if you don’t there will be a water shortage.
Did you know that we are using the same water as the dinosaurs did? That is because of the water cycle! Water goes through the processes of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation and can travel from place to place.
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Water shortages can cause deaths or illnesses. A lack of water is bad for farmers and ranchers because that’s what they are giving their plants and animals.
We are connected with countries such as India, Australia, Canada and Brazil because of the water cycle. The world will never run out of water because the water cycle constantly renews our supply. However, we have a limited supply of potable, or clean water.
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Water Crisis
Almost 1 billion people lack the use of clean water. There is a water crisis in countries all over the world. One country is India. They need our help because they don’t have much water and most of the water they have is dirty and unsafe. If they don’t get our help they might die from water borne diseases like typhoid fever and cholera. Lack of access to clean water can also impact families because kids who are sick can’t go to school. Women and children may be spending their time walking long distances to try and get clean water, rather than being able to attend school or working to earn money for their families.
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Sadly, a lot of people take water for granted because they have easy access to it and they think there is so much of it. Actually, water is a HUGE problem in places like India because there are a lot of people there that have to share such little water. Lots of people are poor and can’t afford clean water. And even when they can afford it they get only a small amount for the week. As you can see, they really need our help.
Blue Planet
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Earth is called the Blue Planet and because over 70% of its surface is covered in water. Sounds like a lot of water, right? Actually, however, only 2.5% of that is fresh water that humans can consume! The rest is saline (salty) and unpotable (not drinkable). Some of that 2.5% is trapped in glaciers. In fact, even on this blue planet, 6.8 BILLION people have about .007% of the water supply to share as fresh, accessible water!
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In order to be responsible with this precious and limited resource, people all over the world will have to think about how to conserve water in their own place. In Laramie, we can conserve water by taking shorter showers, buying water-efficient appliances, and fixing leaking faucets. While brushing your teeth, turn off the tap. When cleaning, use a bucket of water instead of running a faucet. Do not grow a lawn. A lawn takes a huge amount of water to keep green; instead, plant native wild flowers or decorate with mulch and rocks. You can collect rain water and use that water for your plants.
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Be a good steward by telling others how to take care of our water. Keep trash and chemicals away from our watershed. With so many types of pollution challenging our clean water, we need to watch over it! We’re all one world with only a little water to share, so we each have to do our part!
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