Swechha SearchAct

← Water, Water, Everywhere

Vision for water

Students pick two of the questions below and argue them out, in pairs or in small groups, using what they already know about water.

The words

Water pollution

The manual states these. What it does not state is not here.

How it runs

The teaching sequence as the manual gives it.

  1. 01

    Run a debate. Split the class and give each side a position it has to argue whether it agrees with it or not. Two motions that work:

  2. 02

    Greywater from kitchens and bathrooms should be used on gardens and fields. It is water we have already used once, and using it twice means pumping less out of the ground. VS.

  3. 03

    Greywater should not be used on gardens and fields. It carries soap, cleaning chemicals and whatever else went down the drain, and on food crops that is a risk nobody has tested. Or,

  4. 04

    Deep old groundwater that nothing is refilling should still be pumped and used. It can give people drinking water, food and a living now, and it is worth nothing sitting in the rock. VS.

  5. 05

    Deep old groundwater that nothing is refilling should be left where it is. Once it is gone it is gone, there is no second supply behind it, and the people left without it will not be the people who spent it.

Talking about it

Discussion points, worked examples and the handouts the manual prints with this session.

Points for discussion

1. Who is responsible for making water safe to drink — and who do you complain to when it is not? 2. Who is responsible for making sure there is enough for everyone? 3. How much water is enough for one person for one day, to drink, cook and wash with? 4. How much water does your school use in a day? Should that come down, and how would you do it? 5. Farms, factories and mines use far more water than any household. What can they be made to do differently? 6. What are the risks of drinking unsafe water, and what reduces them? 7. Why is water from a handpump usually safer than water from a pond, a river or an open well — and what could still spoil it? 8. What should everyone know about water and mostly does not? 9. What is the best way to get that across to people who are not in this room?

Where this comes from

Bridge the Gap is a compilation. This is what the manual records for this session.

The manual prints no source for this session. It is published here as Swechha has used it, adapted over years of classroom work; if you recognise its origin, tell us and we will credit it.

Before you start sets out where the compendium as a whole comes from.

Next

Where to go from here.

Next session

Water cycle in a bag!Water, Water, Everywhere, 2 of 8

The theme

Water, Water, Everywhere8 sessions and the background reading

All eight themes

Teach43 sessions across 8 themes

Understand the data

The whole library · the A to Z