Water Cycle Activities
Watershed | Watershed Map | How much water does your family use? Brain Teasers | The Do's and Dont's of Water WatershedA watershed is like a large bowl. All the water that falls into that bowl eventually ends up at the bottom. Follow a drop of water as it moves through a watershed. The Sebago Lake Watershed in clues all the land across which water flows (above and below ground) to eventually reach Sebago Lake. The surface of Sebago Lake covers about 45 square miles. Water that flows into it comes from 20 surrounding towns. Use A Watershed MapCount the number of grids and multiply by 25 to figure out how many square miles the watershed of Sebago Lake includes. Then figure out how many times larger the Watershed is than Sebago Lake itself. (About 430 square miles, nearly ten times the surface area of Sebago Lake) Trace your own backyard watershed. When it rains, look for
places where water is flowing or making ditches in the mud. Watch where the
water that falls off the roof of the house goes. Where does the water end up:
as a huge puddle, down a storm drain, or flowing down the street? This is all
part of your neighborhood water shed. How much water does your family use?Multiply the amount of water you use for each activity below by the number of times each day you do it. Then multiply that figure by the number of people in your household.
How much water did you use today? How much does your family use in one day? There are 166,000 people who get their water from Sebago Lake through the Portland Water District. How many gallons would they use in one day if they were like you? These are everyday uses not including occasional uses like washing machines, lawn garden watering and car washing.
Brain TeasersOne cubic foot contains 7.5 gallons. Try to figure out how many gallons of water would fill the Cumberland County Civic Center in downtown Portland. (The Civic Center measures 200' x 300' x 45') Compare this to the 16,000,000 gallons of water that passes through the Portland Water District on an average day. (20,250,000 gallons) In some countries the children are the water carriers for their families. It's hard work! One gallon of water weighs about 8 pounds. Look back at how much water you family uses in a day. How many pounds of water would you have to carry if you had to bring all your water home from a well in the middle of town? In undeveloped desert countries the average daily water use is no more than 10 gallons per person. Make a list of the ways you use water during a day, and then decide how you might cut down on the amount of water you use. Find a map of YOUR Gulf of Maine watershed, at My Watershed.com!
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