Some clarity on tap water
Published 10:18 pm Friday, July 13, 2007
EVERETT – Armed with blue-dye tablets and healthy curiosities, 16 conservation-conscious youngsters headed home this week with their minds in the toilet.
And the dishwasher.
And shower.
And washing machine.
The students were part of a hands-on science camp this week at the Snohomish PUD in Everett where they learned about the water cycle and ways to conserve water.
And a leaky john can be a water hog, wasting up to 60 gallons a day.
Each student planned to test their homes’ commodes by putting the dye in the tank and seeing if it showed up in the bowl 10 minutes later.
They’ll pitch other water-saving ideas as well.
Conner McGinn, 10, of Lake Stevens said he’ll start at the bathroom sink.
“We can turn the water off when we brush our teeth,” he said.
Brushing teeth uses about two gallons, while shaving consumes about five gallons, according to water conservation statistics provided by the PUD.
A full-blast shower uses about 10 gallons a minute.
With this week’s hot spell, the tips were timely. Peak water demand occurs in the summer, when there is the least rainfall. The biggest drain on the water supply comes from watering lawns and gardens.
The summer demand increases the average flow of water through Everett’s filtration plant in the Sultan Basin by 20 million gallons a day or 620 million gallons in any given August.
The PUD offered the class because it wants young people to appreciate the many stages it takes to get clean water from the tap and the role the public utility district plays in the community, said Sarah Dinnis, education coordinator for the PUD. The three-day class cost $20.
The students, ages 10 to 14, also learned how to measure their own water consumption and they tried their hands at making dirty water clean.
They experimented with combinations of sand, gravel, charcoal and cotton balls as filters to remove dirt and debris.
Some combinations were more successful than others.
“I would never, ever drink this water,” said Race LeClaire, 11, declared as he studied the filmy final product his group produced.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 25-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
