Save Water Powerpoint Presentation – Teacher notes

This document supports the Save Water Powerpoint Presentation for Schools
(developed by Global Action Plan). The following notes provide guidance for
schools using the presentation, and suggest content and speaking notes that
teachers and students can use as they see fit.

Schools can use the presentation in its entirety or as a template for their own presentation. Teachers
and students are encouraged to adapt or add to the presentation to meet their needs.

Slide Teacher notes

Title slide: you can add the school logo here or a photo of the Action
Team. Tell students that you’re going to talk to them about why it is
important to save water.

Drew the Drop x 3 slides: you may wish to use Drew the Drop as
your school’s mascot for water saving. Use these slides to introduce
both Drew and the topic of water saving. You may prefer to create
your school’s own mascot as an alternative.

Why save water? Ask the students why they think we might need to
save water. Discuss the 3 pictures displayed on this slide. Ask the
students: what does each picture have to do with water? What does
each one represent?

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 Reasons to save water: ask the students where they can get water.
Discuss with them that for many people finding clean drinking water is
not that easy and that in some countries people need to walk many
miles to find water each day.

Key message: we are very lucky to have easy access to abundant

clean water. We need to use this water wisely because in many place
people do not have very much at all.

Activity: you might like to undertake the ‘Walk for Water’ activity at
this point (see explanation at the end of this document).

Interesting fact: Humans can survive up to 40 days without food but

only 3 without water.

Reasons to save water: ask the students who or what else needs
water other than themselves. Discuss with them that other people,
plants and animals all rely on water. If we use too much there may
not be enough for the plants and animals as well.

Key message: water is a shared resource we need to make sure we

do not use too much and that there is plenty for other people, plants
and animals as well.

Interesting fact: Approximately 66 percent of the human body, 70

percent of an elephant, and 95 percent of a tomato is made up of
water.

Reasons to save water: ask the students what they think this picture
is of and what it has to do with water. Discuss with them that saving
water also saves electricity. This is because in order for water to
reach our tap is must be cleaned, pumped and sometime heated
which all require energy.

Key message: saving water also saves electricity.

Activity: you may like to use the ‘Demonstrating Climate Change’

activity (see explanation at the end of this document) to practically
demonstrate the process of climate change (if you don’t intend to
show the climate change slides that follow).

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 Drew’s journey to the tap and back: use this slide to discuss with
the students the steps involved in getting water from our rivers and
lakes to our schools and homes.

Talk the students through the different stages in the cycle. Ask the
students if they are surprised by how many stages that water has to
go through just to reach our taps.

Ask if anyone can pick out a stage that needs electricity to work.
Possible answers: water is pumped out of lakes and rivers, water is
cleaned, some water is treated, dirty water is cleaned.

Key message: water travels on a long journey from lakes and rivers,
to our taps, and back again. Many stages of this journey need
electricity to work, particularly when the water is pumped, cleaned
and heated.

Activity: you may like to introduce the water process cards activity:
‘Drew’s journey to the tap and back’ (see explanation at the end of
this document)

Climate Change Introduction: use this slide to introduce the link

between saving water, saving electricity and climate change.

Ask if anyone has heard of the phrase climate change, or can tell us
anything they know about it.

Use the pictures to explain that electricity is generated in large

factories called power stations. The electricity that is generated there
then travels down cables to wherever we need it. Many power
stations burn fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) in order to make the
electricity, and this burning emits gases into the air in the form of
smoke and pollution.

Ask if anyone knows the name of any of these gases emitted by the
power station. Possible answers: carbon dioxide/CO2/any other
greenhouse gas.

Explain that we are now going to look at how these gases make
climate change happen.

Key message: generating electricity often involves burning fossil

fuels, which emits greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide).

Activity: you may like to use the ‘Demonstrating Climate Change’

activity (see explanation at the end of this document) to practically
demonstrate the process of climate whilst you show the next few
slides.

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So how much water do we use?
Brushing your teeth with the tap
running
12 litres
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Note: This section can be removed if time is short or if it does not suit
the level of the students.
How climate change happens x 7 slides: use the following seven
slides to explain how climate change occurs and how we can help
stop it.
1. How climate change happens. Introduce the Earth and the Sun.
2. The sun shines down on the Earth.
3. Some of the Sun’s energy is reflected back into space. Point out
the red lines, signifying this reflected energy.
4. But gasses like carbon dioxide are forming a ‘blanket’ around the
Earth that is trapping more and more of this energy inside the
Earth’s atmosphere. Point out that the blue line around the earth
(signified the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere) has become thicker
and some of the reflected energy is no longer able to escape.
5. This extra trapped energy is making the Earth hotter. Ask the
students how they feel when they get too hot e.g. grumpy, tired,
unwell etc.
6. Because the Earth is getting hotter, climate change happens. Ask
the students if they know of any ways in which our climate is
changing. What will be the effect on humans/animals/plants of
these changes?
7. But we can all help! Saving water saves electricity and helps to
stop climate change.
For more detailed information on climate change visit:
http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/diagrams/greenhouse/
Everyday water use: these three slides show the average amount of
water used by 6 different daily activities:
A dripping tap for one day
• brushing your teeth for 2 mins with the tap running,
• a dripping tap for an entire day,
• a 5 minute shower,
• a bath (filled to the top),
20 litres • washing hands
• one flush of the toilet.
These figures are averages. One flush of the toilet is ‘7-9 litres’
because some toilets have a half flush option.
Key message: water is an important resource that we use and rely
on several times throughout every single day.
Activity: you might like to play the How Much Water game at this
point (see explanation at the end of this document).
 How much water do you use?
How much water do you use?
Ask students how much water they think we use in a day. The answer
is revealed on the next slide.

British people use 150 litres of 150 litres per day: discuss this figure with the students.
water every day! Useful fact: average daily use for people in many developing
countries is only 20 litres.

Ask the students:

• Do you think this is a lot?
• How could you reduce it?
• Why do we need so much water when people in other
countries use less?

Key message: we use a lot of water everyday and there are many
opportunities for us to reduce how much we use.

The watery truth The watery truth: these 4 slides display a number of water related
Did you know Three quarters of the Earth is
facts. Discuss these with the students and find out if they know any
that two thirds
of the human
body is made up
covered in water
other interesting facts about water.
of water!

1 in 6 people don’t have

These slides are not in any particular order, you may wish to move
access to fresh drinking water
them around throughout the presentation or not use them at all, up to
you ☺

Saving water is easy: discuss with students their ideas for saving
water at home and at school. Talk about how simple activities can
save a large amount of water. You may wish to do a quick survey of
who already does some of these water saving actions.

Key message: small actions that don’t require much effort can save
a lot of water.

Activity: depending on the size of the group, at this point you might
like to get the students to make posters or adverts (short skits) that
communicate how and why you should save water.

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 What will you do? Discuss with the students what they have learnt
so far and what they are going to do to start saving water. Also ask
them if they have any other ideas or suggestions on how to save
water.

Activity: you could get the students to fill out their personal water
pledges at this point.

Water survey results: insert this slide anywhere throughout the

presentation to communicate the results of your water survey.
Duplicate the slide if you would like to display both your first and
second survey results.

You may like to highlight areas in which you found people were either
a) wasting lots of water and could improve in or b) where people were
already demonstrated lots of good water-saving habits.

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Supporting Activities
Walk for Water

Type of activity: whole class outdoor role play activity, with follow up classroom
discussion

Duration: 30 mins

Aim: to experience what it might be like to have to walk to fetch water.

Materials: a plastic cup for each student, 3 x buckets – labeled ‘water hole’, ‘lake’ and ‘well’.

Pre-activity preparation: You will need fill the bucket labeled ‘water hole’ with a little dirty water and
the bucket labeled ‘well’ with a little clean water (around 1/3 of a bucket should be enough). Leave the
‘lake’ bucket empty.

Position the three buckets around your playground. It is good if the buckets are not positioned too
close to each other, and also if they can be slightly hidden, in order to make the ‘hunt’ for water
slightly harder. Bear in mind that during the walk for water, you will be ‘discovering’ the buckets in this
order: ‘water hole’, ‘lake’, ‘well’.

Description:

Introductory discussion in the classroom

Ask the class where they go to get water if they are feeling thirsty? What would they do if they didn’t
have a tap in their house, or if the water in their tap dried up? Where would they go? How far might it
be? How long would it take? Tell them that today we can’t get water out of the tap; we’re going to
have to hunt for water elsewhere.

Give each pupil a plastic cup – explain this will be their mini-bucket to collect water in. Explain that
you are is going to be the ‘village chief’ or ’leader’, and only you know where to find water.

The Walk
Go outside and walk first to the ‘water hole’. Feel free to take a winding route to simulate a long
journey! Let everyone look at the water in the bucket. Remark that we are very lucky to have found
water so quickly. Ask if anyone would like a drink of the water. Why not? Ask the students what they
think might happen if they drunk this dirty water. Explain that the nearest water might not be fit for
drinking, and that it would need to be cleaned first.

Tell them that there is a lake further on, so we will have to keep going.

Stop on the way to talk about the distance and time taken, and about feeling hot, tired, thirsty etc.

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Approach the ‘lake’ (bucket of water), now they can get a drink! Let the students discover there is no
water there. Explain that this can really happen, that water sources may dry up. Why? What can they
do now?

Say that you have heard there is a well in the next village, so we will have to walk on and get hope to
get some drinking water there.

Take the longest route possible to the ‘well’ and continue to role-play, talking as you walk.

When you reach the ‘well’, let the children fill their cups. Explain that their cups represent buckets or
water pots, which are very heavy. They must carry them home carefully, without spilling a drop. The
water is very precious because they have walked so far to get it.

Take a winding route back to the classroom, talking again about the walk, and about carrying a heavy
bucketful of water.

Children can then pour their water into back into a bucket (make sure this water is used for
plants/washing hands or similar!)

Follow-up discussion in the classroom

Questions you can use to encourage a reflective discussion:

• How do you feel after having to walk to find water?
• Would you prefer to get water from a tap or walk to fetch water? Do you think some people really
do have to fetch water?
• Do you think you would use less water if you had to fetch every drop? How much time do you
think it would take you to fetch water everyday?
• Why might water sources dry up?
• What could we do to save water in our own lives, to show that we know water is precious?
• What could we do to help ensure that everyone has easy access to safe water?

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Demonstrating climate change

Type of activity: Demonstration

Duration: 10 mins

Aim: demonstrate how greenhouse gases and climate change works.

Materials: 2 students, one blanket or a jacket, one torch/head torch (if you have one).

Note: This activity works best if used in conjunction with slides 11-16 of the Save Water Powerpoint
Presentation for Schools.

Description: Show slide 11 and point out the Sun and the Earth. Give the torch to one of the two
students and instruct them that they are now the Sun; the other student is the Earth.

Show slide 12 - The Sun shines down on the Earth. The student with the torch turns it on and shines
it on the other student. Talk about the relationship between the sun and the Earth i.e. the Sun
provides heat and light which enable the Earth to support life.

Show slide 13 – Some of the Sun’s energy is reflected back into space. Explain that because some
of the Sun’s rays bounce back off the Earth, it stays at a good temperature – not too hot and not too
cold. Ask the ‘Earth’ how they are feeling. Hopefully they should answer that they are feeling an ok
temperature too!

Show slide 14 - But gasses like carbon dioxide are forming a ‘blanket’ around the Earth that is
trapping more and more of this energy inside the Earth’s atmosphere. At this point put the
blanket/coat around the ‘Earth’ – the warmer the better. Ask the ‘Earth’ how they are feeling now.
Hopefully they should say that they are feeling hotter.

Show slide 15 – This extra trapped energy is making the Earth feel hotter. Ask the students how they
feel when they get too hot e.g. grumpy, tired, unwell etc. Explain that this is how the Earth is feeling
too.

Show slide 16 – Because the Earth is getting hotter, climate change happens. Use the pictures to
explore what kinds of changes to the climate we are seeing or might see in the future. Ask if anybody
has experienced any climate changes. What will be the effect of these climate changes on
humans/animals/plants?

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Drew’s journey to the tap and back

Type of activity: process cards and group work

Duration: 10 mins

Aim: students to discover the steps and processes involved in getting water to their tap.

Materials: Drew the Drop process cards (enough for one set for every group of students). 4 x energy
cards for each set of process cards.

Description: (Optional step: If you feel that the group needs it, before you begin the below activity,
you can first show them Drew’s full journey on slide 11 of the Save Water Powerpoint Presentation
for Schools. Students can then have an initial understanding of the journey, before trying to recall
the correct order of all the stages during the activity)

Instruct each group that they need to arrange the process cards in order (in a circle) to demonstrate
the steps and process that water goes through to get from our rivers and lakes to our tap and back
again.

You might like to give the students a clue: all the cards with blue writing go on the left hand side of the
circle and those with red go on the right.

Once the students have completed the task ask the groups to talk you through the process to see if
they managed to place the cards in the correct order. Once all groups have the process cards in the
right place ask them to identify the steps that require energy and get them to place the energy cards
next to these steps. Stages that definitely require electricity are: Water is pumped out of lakes and
rivers; Water is cleaned; Some water is heated; Dirty water is cleaned.

Answer: with the ‘Water comes out of the tap’ card at the top of the circle and the ‘Lakes and rivers’
card at the bottom, the cards should be ordered in a clockwise direction.

Starting from the bottom: Lake and Rivers – Water is pumped out of lakes and rivers – Water is
stored in a reservoir – Water is cleaned – Water travels to our homes in a pipe – Some water is
heated – Water comes out of the tap – Dirty water goes to the sewers – Dirty water is cleaned –
Clean water goes back to the lakes and rivers.

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How much water?

Type of activity: discussion/small groups and whole class

Duration: 20 mins

Aim: students to understand how much water different everyday activities use.

Materials: 1 x one litre bottle or jug, 1 x (or enough for every student) 5 litre beach balls or footballs
(these are optional but assist the students in visualising the amounts of water that different activities
use), activity cards (6 x A4 pictures of different everyday activities requiring water), 6 x answer cards.

Description: Tell the students that washing your hands uses 5 litres of water, demonstrate how much
this is with the one litre bottle and a beach ball.

Give each student a blown up beach ball (if you are using beach balls) and divide them into 6 groups.
Assign each group a different activity card. In their groups they are to discuss how much water they
think is required for each activity. They can explain their answer either in litres or in balls (i.e. a bath
requires 80 litres or 16 beach balls).

Have each group share their findings with the rest of class. Show each group and the class the
correct amount (with the answer cards) and ask for their comments. When all groups are have
presented back get one student from each group to come up the front with their activity and answer
card and arrange themselves in a line in order of activities that require the least amount of water
through the most amount of water.

Answers:
Flushing the toilet: 7–9 litres
Brushing your teeth with the tap running (for two minutes): 12 litres
A dripping tap for a whole day: 20 litres
A five minute shower: 35 litres
A bath 80 litres
Total water usage for one day: 150 litres

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