Eco-Activity: Wipe out water-wasters!

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Wipe Out Water-Wasters!

Did you know there are some serious water-wasting offenders hiding in your home? This is bad news for the planet since water is a limited resource needed for all plants, animals, and humans. Canada is lucky to have amazing freshwater resources—our rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands hold 20% of all freshwater in the world! This freshwater provides drinking water for millions of people and is also the foundation for many of our country’s ecosystems, providing important habitat for fish, shorebirds, frogs, crustaceans, and many other creatures. By making sure we don’t waste water, we’re helping to conserve and protect these habitats and making sure there’s plenty of clean and healthy water for all!

Who are we looking to catch in the act of wasting water?

The Terrible Tap has an evil master plan. It wants to use up all of the water you have in your home. The more often you leave your taps running, the more powerful it becomes!

Stop it by: Turning off the tap while you brush your teeth, wash your clothes in cold water, and take shorter showers or shallower baths!

The Lousy Leak is on the run, escaping through cracks in your pipes and toilet. If the Lousy Leak gets into your pipes or sink, you can lose up to 261 litres of water a year. If it gets into your toilet, you can lose up to 200 litres of water a day!

Stop it by: Listening for any dripping sounds around your sinks, showers, hoses… even very small drips add up! Next, drop some food colouring into your toilet tanks… if it shows up in the toilet bowls in about 15 minutes, you’ve caught the leak red-handed! Get it fixed!

The H2O Hog is greedily gobbling up more water than necessary every time you flush! With each flush, it can eat up to 26.5 litres of water!

Stop it by: Making any old toilets more efficient by using something large and heavy enough (like a brick or bag of rocks) to take up some extra space in big toilet tanks. This way, the toilet will need less water to work!

The Sinister Suds grow bigger and bigger the more water they absorb. With each load, these soapy villains can absorb up to 57 litres of water from the dishwasher and up to 170 litres from the washing machine.

Stop it by: Only running the dishwasher and washing machine when you have a full load.

Want to learn more about protecting Canada’s amazing waterways and aquatic species? Check out Missions like Toxic Takedown, Water Taste Challenge, and Shoreline Saver in the Earth Rangers App today!!

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