MWRA 2011-2012 Writing Contest Winners

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HONORABLE MENTION WINNER, GRADES 6-8
Justin Tseng
Grade 6, McGlynn Middle School, Medford
Madelyn Wenham, Teacher

 

Drip ... Drip ... Drip ... Drip ... Tick ... Tock ... Tick ... Tock ...

"I stopped the leaky faucet!"

"Great job!"

What is shown here is a group effort to conserve water by turning of a faucet from dripping. Did you know that several to hundreds of gallons of water are wasted per day through a dripping faucet? No wonder we need to call for water conservation! There are a few questions to look out for:
(1) What is water? (2) What is water conservation and why? Lastly, (3) Why is it important to work together?

Water is a clear liquid, which takes many forms such as lakes, rivers, oceans, or just plain rain. All living things use water in one way or the other. Its chemical composition is H20: 2 hydrogen and 1 oxygen. There are many uses for water. Many include washing clothes, dishes, drinking, irrigation, watering crops, or swimming. Water has many diverse uses throughout the world in different countries. Water covers 70-71 % of Earth's surface and only 3% of that is fresh water. Surprisingly, only 1/3 of that 3% is suitable for drinking and only 0.08 of the world's drinking water is accessible to humans--which brings us to water conservation!

Water conservation is the saving of water that will lead to a reduction in water usage. Water conservation is the responsibility of all people who use it (meaning everybody). Water conservation is the responsibility of all because the world is now in our control for our future generations and to let them experience an abundance of precious water in the MWRA water service area for all to come. Conservation is no longer a choice, it is a must!

Why is it a must, and what is now happening to water? Our water comes from the Quabbin Reservoir, a manmade lake in Central Massachusetts. The Quabbin and the Wachusett Reservoirs are filled through nature, with precipitation that falls onto the watersheds around the protected lands and form "streams" into the reservoir. Once the water arrives at the reservoir, it has been cleanly filtered by rocks, plants, and soil. Water demand was 196.55 gallons per day on average, down from 204.3 gallons in 2010. In January 2012 water demand was 173.5 gallons per day, down again! The down side is that the two reservoirs only hold 470,103 million gallons according to the last count, and there are 46 service communities for the MWRA water system.

Many solutions that a household can come up with to save water as a group are simpler. In my family, we put a limit of time on shower use so we don't use too much water. We always turn the sink off when we brush our teeth or lather our hair or body with shampoo or soap when we shower. When we wash our dishes we use the water we washed rice with. These are some examples of practices we do at home. Together we save a lot of water and we are happy about that. Sometimes, we even have family meetings about how to save water!

Why is it so imperative to work together? We must work together because one person can influence many people, and a group can influence even more! Many people united can conjure a great difference in water that is able to be used in the MWRA Water System communities. The best-case scenario is if everybody helps save water and we have a great abundance for the future. The worst-case scenario is if the water demand rises and we have less water to use because no one wanted to help the cause. If a group of people no matter how big work together to conserve water, the worst-case scenario will never happen in the MWRA service areas. It will also be more likely that nature is going to improve here and future generations will be able to have spectacles on what we saw.

In conclusion, water is essential and is everyone's responsibility to conserve. The more we conserve the better place we put ourselves in on this world. Don't you just want to help your world?

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