How To: Lead an Activity about Lack of Water Abroad

A typical American will use over 100 gallons [2] of water per day, while a person living in the developing world could only have 8 gallons of water [3]. Educate others about the lack of clean water worldwide by having people participate in the following challenge:

Have each person write down everything that he or she uses water for in daily life.
Look up and assign water amounts to each activity on each person's list. For instance:
- showering—4 gallons per minute
- bathing in a full tub—36 gallons
- flushing the toilet—4 gallons per flush
- washing hands—4 gallons per minute
- brushing teeth—4 gallons per minute
- doing laundry—43 gallons per load
Now challenge everyone to see who can use the least water in one day. Assign a special prize or recognition to people who keep it below 8 gallons.

Allow people to have unlimited amounts of drinking water (you don't wanna send people to the hospital).

When people report back, discuss what everyone learned. Ask questions like

What was the hardest part of life without water?
How long you think you could live with just 8 gallons of water each day?
Who did you tell about the challenges of going without water when you were doing it? Did they know that people abroad deal with this problem every day?

Source: Southwest Florida Water Management District [4]

Time:

One Day [5]

Where:

At Home [6]

At School [7]

Issues:

Homelessness and Poverty [8]

Global Health [9]

Global Poverty [10]

Human Rights [11]

Free Speech [12]

Who:

Club [13]

School [14]

Sports Team [15]

With Your Friends [16]