Water
Purpose Understand the value of clean water supplies, adequate water supplies, and freshwater flows in the Barnegat Bay watershed for both people and wildlife. Standard Actions 3A: Learn about water resources and how to protect them. Water is a precious resource and an essential component for a successful Jersey-Friendly garden. Provide lessons to your students […]
Step 3: Water Wisely
Purpose
Understand the value of clean water supplies, adequate water supplies, and freshwater flows in the Barnegat Bay watershed for both people and wildlife.
Why It’s Important
Water is a precious and limited resource; only about 0.003% of the freshwater on earth is accessible for human consumption. More than 7 billion gallons of freshwater are used in the U.S. every day to irrigate landscapes, including school lawns. As much as 50% of the water used outdoors is wasted from inefficient watering methods and systems.
Although New Jersey is fortunate to be considered a “water rich” state, much of the water we use is wasted. Excess water runs off schoolyard lawns and down storm drains, often carrying pollutants into our nearby lakes, streams and estuaries. How much water does your school use, and for what purposes?
A thoughtfully managed landscape can help conserve precious water resources. A rain garden, native flower garden, or rain barrels help to capture water and channel it into the soil where it is cleaned and stored underground. These practices also reduce the amount of water consumed through lawn irrigation.
Visit Step 3: Water Wisely on the Jersey-Friendly Yards website for tips, tools and resources to support water conservation in your Jersey-Friendly Schoolyard.
Standard Actions
3A: Learn about water resources and how to protect them.
Water is a precious resource and an essential component for a successful Jersey-Friendly garden. Provide lessons to your students about water quality, water conservation, and the importance of ensuring clean and adequate water supplies for both people and wildlife.
Water Quality and Supply
17 trillion gallons of fresh water is stored beneath our feet in the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer. Provide a lesson about New Jersey’s aquifers, and include the following: what is an aquifer, where is it, how does it work, who uses it, why it’s important to protect New Jersey’s aquifers, and how to protect them.
Resources for lessons about water Quality and supply
- Project Wet: Discover Water – the Role of Water in Our Lives (LE, UE)
- Deep Subjects – Wells and Ground Water (UE)
- Georgian Court University’s Aquifers and Groundwater Lesson (UE)
- Pinelands Preservation Alliance Save the Source – Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer
- Pinelands Preservation Alliance – Up Close and Natural curriculum (AG); specifically: Water Quality and Water Quantity (MS, HS)
Water Conservation
Water is a non-renewable resource. Provide a lesson about outdoor water conservation practices, and have students look for ways to conserve water in your schoolyard. Visit Step 3: Water Wisely on the Jersey-Friendly Yards website for tips, tools, and resources to support water conservation in your Jersey-Friendly Schoolyard.
Resources for Lessons about Water Conservation
Water and Wildlife
Wildlife, like people, depend on water to survive. Provide a lesson that makes connections between local wildlife and clean, abundant water resources in your community.
Resources for Lessons about Water and Wildlife
- Georgian Court University’s Water Conservation and Water Quality Education Project (AG)
- Earth’s Freshwater: A Guide to Teaching Freshwater Resources (UE-MS)
- Will There Be Enough Fresh Water (MS, HS)
- Maryland Department of Natural Resources: Aquatic Invasive Species Education (UE-HS)
3B: Participate in the Rain Barrel Challenge.
Collecting water in rain barrels and using the water in the schoolyard is one way to conserve water. Participate in the Barnegat Bay Partnership’s Rain Barrel Challenge, an annual art competition with an environmental theme.
The Challenge is open to schools and youth organizations within the Barnegat Bay watershed, offering students and youth group members a way to creatively express their appreciation for the Barnegat Bay through rain barrel art. The Rain Barrel Challenge aims to educate young people about the bay and engage them in water conservation practices.
Contact Karen Walzer, Barnegat Bay Partnership’s Public Outreach Coordinator, for information about participating in the next Rain Barrel Challenge.
Resources for Lessons about Rain Barrels
- Barnegat Bay Partnership: Rain Barrel Challenge
- Rutgers: How to Build a Rain Barrel
- Rutgers: Build a Rain Barrel Workshop (PPT)
- Rutgers NJAES Cooperative Extension: Building a Rain Barrel (video)
- Green Apple Day of Service: Put Rain Water to Use (Rain Barrels at School)
- Bay Backpack: Install Rain Barrels
General Resources about Water
- Pinelands Preservation Alliance: Save the Source – Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer
- USDA NRCS, Chapter 2: Estimating Runoff – Urban Hydrology for Small Watersheds
- Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority: Water Conservation Programs
- Barnegat Bay Partnership: Conserve Water
- Rutgers Water Resources Program
- Rutgers Water Resources Program: E-learning Tools
- Project Learning Tree: Rain Barrels and Lessons About Water
- Project WET
- New Jersey Water Savers (a program to promote water conservation in schools)
- EPA WaterSense Program
