The Blue Planet?

- Water is life
The project this week is about waste management and sustainable living, as an individual
and as a society. You will be asked to consider needs versus wants, the difference between
possible and plausible and what you consider reasonable. All while learning about science,
technology, engineering and mathematics through an applied real-world problem.

We have prepared 8 different subtopics to be distributed amongst the groups and this page
represents the starting point for one of these projects:

Problem:
Problem area:
71 % of Earth's surface is covered by water, yet we still hear about water shortages around
the world all the time. Why?
Currently the amount of water spent per person, per day, in Australia is at minimum 100L
and up to 800L in the drier areas. On top of this the industry spends another 150L per
person, landing the average amount of water spent on 490L per person, per day.
This varies a lot, but the truth is that we spend water for many other things than just
drinking, and being civilized requires a lot of water. In fact we need so much water that in
many places in the world they have emptied their ground water storages or gotten them
polluted with salt from overuse.
Nature is slowly cleaning the water, but not fast enough for our needs, so we need to help it
along, which requires energy and resources.

Problem definition:
How can we ensure that everyone, now and in the future, has the necessary amount of
water for their daily lives, in a manner sustainable towards environment and climate?

Suggested paths and questions to pursue:

- What is freshwater and why is it necessary for life?
- How much of the needed water per person has to be clean drinkable water? How
much needs to be heated or cooled? What is the rest used for?
- Do we use freshwater for things we should not?
- How and why is water polluted and with what?
- How is water purified/cleaned?

Sources:
https://www.pumpsandsystems.com/cost-clean-water
https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/water-scarcity
https://worldwaterreserve.com/potable-water/purification/how-to-purify-water-for-drinking/
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/process-of-wastewater-treatment.php

C5:DK
Criteria and specifications:
Present your findings/ideas and products to a group of smaller children on friday. You have
about 8 minutes for every round. There will be 8 rounds. Use your creativity to win the
contest, since the best group wins a present.
- In english
- 7-8 minutes per presentation
- An appealing presentation (maybe with interactive elements?)
- Use visuals and paper models or show experiments
- Understandable for younger children

C5:DK