Welcome to Wateropoly. This game teaches students how we all make choices to waste or conserve water throughout our day. Preparations: 1. Cut out the playing cards. Sort them into the four categories: Kitchen, Yard, Bathroom, and Other Rooms. Don’t worry about whether the cards are Water Conservers or Water Wasters. Place each stack of cards face down so students can pull a card when directed. 2. Hang the game board at the front of the room if you are playing as a whole group. If students are playing in small groups you will need to make a copy of the game board for each group. 3. If you play as a whole group, divide the class into four groups and assign them a color. You can use sticky notes for the game pieces as it hangs in the front of the room. If students are playing in small groups, make sure they have piece to move around the board – sticky notes or paper clips work. Play: 1. Make a score board giving each team 80 gallons of water to start. That’s how much we each use at home per day. 2. Call a student from the first team to come up to the cards and take a turn. They should roll the die, move their piece that number of spaces, and pull the appropriate card. After reading their card, the student calculates their new score. Then ask a student from the next group to come up and so on. After the first round of turns, your score board might look like this: Red Green Blue Orange 80 80 80 80 + 25 - 10 + 5 + 12 105 70 85 92 Winning: Play continues until every student has had a chance to play if you are playing with the whole class. If students are playing in small groups, you will be in charge of deciding when “the day is done” and play should stop. The winning team is the one who has the most water at the end of the game. Teams with negative amounts of water have used up their own water, and some of our future water. Quiz students about what they could have done to conserve water. If you would like more (or larger) game boards, or if you have questions, please contact Sharon Sivinski, 768-3245 or email ssivinski@abcwua.org

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Start with56 gallons ofriver water and24 gallons ofground water.

Caution! Is it possible to have negative gallons of water? Yes! That is when

you are using our future supplies of water. Try not to go there.

WATEROPOLY“Life in the Desert”

Wateropoly Rules (You get 80 gallons of water to start, then add and subtract as directed.)1. Everybody gets 56 gallons of river water and 24 gallons of ground water for one day.2. Roll the die and move your piece that number of spaces.3. Pick up the designated card and add or subtract gallons according to the card. Bury the card in its pile when you are finished with it.4. The winner is the one who has the most gallons of water when the teacher calls time. (Make sure everyone gets the same number of turns.)

Why does it take water to make electricity? Most of ourelectricity in Albuquerque is generated from coal-firedplants NW New Mexico. The coal is burned to boil water, and the steam turns turbines which make electricity. Wateris also used to cool the equipment. It takes 1/2 gallon of water to make 1 Kilowatt-hour.

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Bathroom Water Waster You’ve got a leaky faucet. Even a slow leak wastes 5 gallons per day. Subtract 5 gallons of water.

Bathroom Water Waster Leaky toilet! You can’t see it or hear it, but it can waste 10-200 gallons per day. (Put dye in your toilet tank to check for leaks. If the color shows up in the bowl after a few minutes, you’ve got a leak.) Subtract 25 gallons of water.

Bathroom Water Waster You left the water running while brushing your teeth. Waste two gallons, one in the morning, one at night. Subtract 2 gallons of water.

Bathroom Water Waster You flushed a dust bunny down the toilet instead of putting it in the garbage can. Since you don’t have a low flow toilet, you wasted 6 gallons. Subtract 6 gallons of water.

Bathroom Water Waster Your shower took 15 minutes, 10 minutes longer than necessary. Your showerhead is not low flow so it uses 5 gallons per minute. Your 10 extra minutes of showering wasted 50 gallons. Subtract 50 gallons of water.

Bathroom Water Waster You left the water running while you sham-pooed your hair and shaved. Since your faucet is not low flow, it uses 5 gallons of water a minute. Roll the die to see how many minutes of water you wasted. Subract 5 x (Number on the Die) gallons of water.

Bathroom Water ConserverInstall a low flow shower head. Save 2.5 gallons per minute. During your 5 minute shower, you saved 12.5 gallons of water. Add 12.5 gallons of water.

Bathroom Water ConserverYou only filled the tub one quarter full instead of half full. Since a full tub uses 100 gallons of water, you saved 25 gallons of water. Add 25 gallons of water.

Bathroom Water ConserverInstall a low flow toilet – save 4.5 gallons per flush. Roll die to find out how many flushes today. Multiply the number on the die by 4.5 to see how much you saved.Add 4.5 x (Number on the Die) gallonsof water.

Bathroom Water ConserverWith a bucket under the tub faucet, you captured the cool water before the hot water for your tub started flowing. You can use that water for watering your plants or housecleaning. Add 5 gallons.

Kitchen Water ConserverYou fixed a leaky faucet. Slow leaks waste 5 gallons a day, but yours was dripping more quickly. You’ll save 20 gallons a day. Add 20 gallons of water.

Kitchen Water ConserverYou added an aerator to your kitchen faucet to mix air with water. Now you only use 2.5 gallons of water per minute, instead of 5. Roll the die to find out how minutes you used your new faucet. Add 2.5 x (Numberon the Die) gallons of water.

ABCWUA Water Resource Education 2009-2010 www.abcwua.org

Kitchen Water Waster Doing the dishes by hand is fine, but you left the rinse water running while you washed. Instead, you should have filled the second sink with water for rinse. Subtract 25 gallons of water.

Kitchen Water Waster You left the water running while washing fruits and vegetables instead of rinsing in a basin of water. Subtract 5 gallons of water.

Kitchen Water Waster Ran the dishwasher half full. Since dish-washers use about 12 gallons per load, you wasted 6 gallons of water. Subtract 6 gallons of water.

Kitchen Water Saver You only run the dishwasher when it is full. Add 6 gallons of water.

Yard Water Waster You washed the car today. You let the water run instead of using a nozzle on the hose to stop the water flow while you washed. The hose runs 20 gallons of water a minute! Roll the die and see how many minutes you worked. Subtract 20 x (Number on the Die) gallons of water.

Yard Water Waster Forgot to turn off the water in the flower bed. The hose runs 20 gallons per minute. Subtract 20 x (Number on the Die) gallons of water of water.

Yard Water Waster Using only rock for your landscaping makes your house hot. Use 2 hours more of air conditioning, or 7 kWh of electricity. (1 kWh of electricity uses 1/2 gallon of water) Subtract 3.5 gallons.

Yard Water ConserverYou watered your 10 ft x 10 ft lawn in the early morning when evaporation is the lowest. Not only did you avoid a fine, you saved 30 gallons of water that would have evaporated in the afternoon. Add 30 gallons of water.

Yard Water ConserverYou replaced a 10 ft x 10 ft patch of blue grass with native plants and mulch. (10’ x 10’ is about the size of bedroom.)You used to use 60 gallons when you watered, now you only use 20. You saved 40 gallons today. Add 40 gallons of water.

Yard Water ConserverYou fixed the sprinkler that was watering the street instead of your lawn. Add 35 gallons of water.

Other Rooms Water ConserverBuy a front loading washing machine. Top loading machines use 40 – 50 gallons per load, but front loaders use less than 25 gallons per load. Add 25 gallons of water.

Other Rooms Water ConserverYou replaced eight, 100 watt incandescent light bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (70% more efficient). The old bulbs used 5.5 kWh of electricity per day. Now you use only 1.5 kWh, saving 4 kWh.Add 2 gallons of water.

ABCWUA Water Resource Education 2009-2010 www.abcwua.org

Yard Water ConserverInstall a low flow toilet – save 4.5 gallons per flush. Roll die to find out how many flushes today. Multiply the number on the die by 4.5 to see how much you saved. Add those gallons.

Other Rooms Water Waster Left the lights on in the living room all night. You wasted 4 kWh or electricity. It takes about 1/2 gallon of water to produce one kWh of electricity from coal powered plants. Subtract 2 gallons of water.

Other Rooms Water Waster You fell asleep in front of the TV. Your TV and computer were on all night, wasting 2kWh of electricity. Subtract 1 gallon of water.

Other Rooms Water WasterWashed a half load of clothing in a top-loading machine. Top loading washers use 40-50 gallons of water, but front loaders use less than 25 gallons per load. Subtract 20 gallons of water.

Other Rooms Water WasterYou cleaned your fish tank, but threw the fishy water down the drain. Your plants would have loved that water! Subtract 12 gallons of water.

ABCWUA Water Resource Education 2009-2010 www.abcwua.org