Teaching Water Conservation at Hayward Carnival

7.11.14-BEETS-Hayward Carnival_IMG_7381On Friday, June 11th the BEETS (Band of Environmentally Educated and Employable Teens) used their summer water conservation training to pay it forward to the youth in the Western Addition. The summer cohort of BEETS is focusing on water conservation thanks to a grant from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The BEETS had a table at the Hayward Rec Connect Summer Carnival where they dispensed their knowledge about water and why it is so important to conserve it, especially in times of drought.
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The teens created a Jeopardy board with question. Monique Adams came up with the idea, Roderick Irby came up with the questions, and Ivan Gladamez helped engineer the board. The carnival participants came to guess the answers and win a slice of watermelon. Another game was to talk about the water cycle and contestants got to write down how they could save water.
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Here are some of the questions and answers from the BEETS:
WATER JEOPARDY QUESTIONS:
How much water do you think you use a day?
On average you use about 180 gallons of water a day
Is saving water important?
Saving water is very important because without
water there is no life!
WHY IS WATER IMPORTANT?
The reason why water is so important is because it is because all life needs it. Without water, there would be no plants on land, no air for animals to breathe and the planet would look completely different than it looks today.

    Is California in a drought?

California is in a drought. Currently California is in one of the worst droughts since we started mongering drought levels in 2000

    Name three ways you can save water at home?

Wash only full loads in the clothes and dish washers. Washing small loads uses almost twice as much water than a full load. You can turn off the water when you’re washing your hands and brushing your teeth. Ect!

    How much water on earth is okay to drink?

Less than 1%! If all the water we had on earth was a dollar bill, the water we could drink would only be a penny. Obviously, if only 1% of the water on earth is drinkable and the population continues to grow, we have to reduce use or find ways to use the “non-drinkable” water.

    Question: What is the largest water user in an average home?

The toilet! Your toilet uses over one quarter of the water you use at home 26%

    Question: Where does San Francisco get its water?

Over 85% of the water in the bay area comes from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National park. The water travels 160 miles to provide bay area citizens with some of the freshest water in the country.

    How many watts of energy does it take for the Bay Area to transport its water?

None! Hetch Hetchy is located really high up in the Serriea Mountains. Because of this, gravity allows the water to flow through the aqueducts without using any power. Actually, the freely flowing water creates power because of the hydroelectric power houses!

    After you flush the toilet, where does the water go?

The water goes to the South East waste water treatment plant! Over 80% of our waste water goes there.

    What does SFPUC stand for?

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission! They clean all the water in San Francisco!

    How much water does it take to make one serving of steak?

It takes seven hundred gallons of water to make a six ounce steak!
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Everyone was excited to learn about water conservation, especially when they got to have a slice of watermelon afterwards.
Thanks to BEETS Jairo Villalta and Angie Lemus for the great photos!