‘Adm. Splash’ Brings Idea of Saving Water to Classroom

If children learn early enough about the complexities of collecting, storing and moving vast quantities of water for vast numbers of people, they will grow up with a healthy respect for conservation--at least, that’s what the Metropolitan Water District hopes.

“It is very difficult to change the water use habits of adults,” said Jay Malinowski, an MWD spokesman. “If you can reach children at a relatively early age . . . , then what you’re doing is creating a generation of water conservationists.”

With that in mind, the MWD is sponsoring an education program aimed at fourth- and sixth-graders throughout Southern California. The program, started five years ago, has already found its way into hundreds of public and private classrooms where teachers give state-approved lessons on various water issues, particularly conservation.

Worth the Price

Water district officials believe the $300,000-a-year price tag is well worth it and are so pleased with the results at the elementary school level that they are preparing a similar program for high school students, Malinowski said.

“For every $5 we spend trying to convince adults to change their habits, it takes about $1 to get the message through to kids,” he said.

The call for a change in habit is especially poignant now as less than expected snow and rain have already meant water shortages in Northern California. And although supplies for Southern California appear adequate for the summer, continued drier-than-normal weather would mean shortages in the region and a cut in water supplies to farmers next year, Malinowski said.

The learning process starts with in-service training sessions for interested teachers, said Sue Lyons, supervisor of the education program. About 9,000 teachers have been trained since the program started in 1983, Lyons said.

Once trained, the teachers receive a box of free materials from the water district, including a lesson plan, a film strip and cassette, student workbooks, tests and conservation leaflets to take home.

Both the fourth- and sixth-grade programs use 10 lesson plans designed to be covered in two weeks, Lyons said.

The fourth-grade program, dubbed “Admiral Splash,” begins by focusing on the science of water and the cycle it goes through from snow or rain to evaporation to percolation into the ground.

The fourth-graders also learn a bit about the history of water use in California and the three major aqueducts that bring water to Southern California. That leads into descriptions of the journey water makes from its various sources to its final destination--the tap.

With that foundation in place, the lessons move on to the meat of the program’s message: water conservation.

“The kids learn that when they flush a toilet it uses 5 to 7 gallons,” Lyons said.

Ways to Cut Down

They also learn that a shower uses 4 gallons a minute, that dishwashers or washing machines gulp 30 to 60 gallons with each use and that the front lawn has the biggest appetite for water, with an average-size yard soaking up 180 gallons of water during a typical day’s watering, she said.

Teachers then provide a list of various ways to reduce water use, including not running the faucet continuously while brushing teeth, turning off the shower to soap up, keeping showers short, stopping dripping faucets--which can waste up to 50 gallons a day--and placing plastic bags or bottles in the toilet tank so that less water is used with each flush.

The hope is that the message will sink in and create an awareness that will last a lifetime.

“Fourth-graders are in an age group where we can change habits,” Lyons said. The sixth-grade program starts off with refresher lessons from the fourth grade. But the emphasis quickly turns to science and more in-depth discussions of current and future water-management issues, Lyons said.

“When the kids grow up, we want them to be aware of water topics,” she said.

Students perform experiments, such as one that demonstrates water filtration, and receive a more detailed look at the costs and problems associated with the delivery of vast quantities of water, Lyons said.

The water district, which sells water wholesale to 27 other water agencies and dozens of subagencies in Southern California, will also send experts to the classrooms to perform experiments and demonstrations.

“If you live in Alaska or the tundra, you conserve wood for heat because it’s in short supply. Here we save water for the same reasons,” he said.