Have you ever wondered how much waters you every day?  Well, the average American uses 80-100 gallons per day.  I use about 120 gallons per day, but that’s just me. Others may use more or less than I do. I mean, think about it? You use water when doing laundry, washing dishes, taking showers, cooking, and lots of other things.  I really think we should cut down on water usage.

When my teacher told my class and I that we were going to do a project on water usage, I thought it was going to be boring but it wasn’t. When I did the project, I learned that we need to cut low on water usage because our class average was 316 gallons and that’s way above the average an American uses. Maybe it’s above the average an American uses because some kids in my class have an automatic sprinkler system that turns on twice or once a day everyday. The estimated amount of water used for watering lawn is 300 gallons! That’s three times as much water an average American uses! So, use water wisely if you want clean water to use.

 I know what you’re thinking. Who cares about water, there’s a lot of it. Well there may be a lot of water, but only 1% of the world’s water is drinkable.97% of the world’s water is salty or other wise undrinkable and 2% of the water is in icecaps or glaciers. 1% of the world’s water is nothing! Water is also more important to our bodies than you think. A person may live a month without food, but only a week without water. Did you know 75% of the human brain is water and 70% of our skin is also water?

We should take care of what we pour on the ground or air because it usually ends up in the water you drink. The message I’m trying to give you is don’t waste water!

When my class did the water usage project, we did the project for a little more than a week. First, we had to gather data about how much water we use. Next, we found our weekly class average and divided that by 7 to find our daily class average. (Which is 316 gallons.) Last, we sent our class average to the “Down the Drain” home page. As you’ve read, the project was only three steps but they were three long steps.

At the “Down the Drain” home page, our class printed the class averages of all the other states. With that information, our class found out that it didn’t matter if you live in a dry region or wet region, because our class was about three times less than the average of another class that is in Ohio. Our class average was 316 gallons and their class average was 909 gallons. I was really surprised when I found this out because I would of thought that a dry region would use more water than a wet region.

          I also found out that two classes in the same region used very different amount of water. One class from Virginia used 64 gallons and the other class in New Jersey used 525 gallons!

Out of all the class averages, the one that used the least was a class at Williamsburg. They used 64 gallons. The class that used the most water was a class in St. Mary’s Byzantine. They used 963 gallons daily. (I really think they should cut down on water use and use water wisely.)

I also made a hypothesis that a school in Mississippi will use less water than a school in New York. When I found the answer to my hypothesis, it was proved wrong. The class averages were only different by one gallon!

If you want to keep the earth clean, also keep the water clean!

                                                                      ABIGAIL