It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Frannie's Top 5 - Educational Activities at Home!}

Hello friends!

Frannie knows that the world is changing really fast right now and some of you may be out of school for one, two, maybe even eight weeks. But just because you're not at school doesn't mean that your groundwater education has to stop!

These are Frannie's top 5 educational tools and activities to help you continue to explore the wonderful world of groundwater.

5) Hydro-Van-Gogh

Have you ever wondered what it was like to be a little droplet of water making your way through the water cycle? What would you see? How would it feel? Explore these questions and more by painting your way through the ground, surface, and sky in a fun activity that combines art with science.

4) Growing with Groundwater

Groundwater is the water that helps grow our food and flowers. See how plants are a part of the water cycle by building a mini-terrarium. Simply plant a few flower seeds in a clear container, water it, seal it tightly, leave it in sunshine, and there you go! A water cycle in a jar!

3) 30by30 Mobile App

Did you know that the average American uses over 100 gallons of water each day? Find out how much you're using by marking how many times you fill your water glass, how long you take a shower, how many vegetables you wash, and much more. Challenge yourself to reduce your use by 30 gallons over the next month (just don't skimp on washing your hands!)

2) Hydrogeology Challenge

This one is a bit challenging (hence the name!) and you should know how to calculate slope using the y=mx+b formula. This online modeling tool walks you through how to use well information to calculate the direction and speed that groundwater is flowing. Real groundwater scientists use this information every day in order to figure out if a contaminant poses a threat to wells and communities downstream. Are you up for a bigger challenge? Email hydro@groundwater.org and receive a scenario in which you must use the information you calculated with the model to help a community protect its water source.

1) Awesome Aquifer Kit

This is Frannie's favorite activity. You might remember the blog series she did using the Awesome Aquifer Kit a while ago. The Awesome Aquifer Kit can be used to show so many important concepts about groundwater, including how it moves between the surface and subsurface, how people can get access to groundwater, and how contamination spreads. You can get 20% off your very own Awesome Aquifer Kit using code GWAW20 if you order by March 31.

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {5 Minute Shower Challenge}

Frannie knows how important it is to save water every day, so she limits herself to a 5 minute shower. A quick shower uses 20-30 fewer gallons of water than taking a bath or a 10 minute shower!

Frannie wants YOU to take the 5 Minute Shower Challenge. It's easy! Just follow these directions:

• Take a timer and set it for 5 minutes. 
• Make sure you are finished with your shower when the timer goes off. 
• Use the 30by30 mobile application, available on Android and iOS platforms, or start a journal to track how much water you have saved!
• Challenge your family members to do the same. Encourage your family to use the 30by30 app to track how much water your entire family has saved!
• Share the results of your 5 minute challenge with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We'd love to see how much water you've saved! 

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {FIRST Lego League}

Frannie has received a lot of calls lately from all over country from boys and girls participating in this year’s FIRST Lego League Challenge.  Why?  We’ll get to that, but first: What is FIRST Lego League, or FLL?  

Photo Credit: Denise Krebs

From their website, FLL “is a program that supports children and youngsters in order to introduce them to science and technology in a sporty atmosphere.”  The competition is divided into two parts that tackle different disciplines of a unique theme: the robot game and the research project.  In the robot game, teams practice the scientific method and hone their engineering skills to solve a mission with the help of an autonomous robot. The research projects, on the other hand, is the students’ prerogative to address an issue within their community and develop a product or solution with the help of agencies and experts in the field.

So why are they calling Frannie? Because this year’s FLL theme is Hydro Dynamics!  Teams will learn all about how to “find, transport, use, or dispose” of water as well as what we can do to help ourselves and the earth once we know what is happening to it.

Hydrogeology Challenge

The Groundwater Foundation has a lot of basic information about what groundwater is, why it is important, and what threatens it that can be read online.  The 30by30 (Google Play Store and iTunes) and Water1der (iTunes) apps are useful tools to track your water usage and practice your water trivia, respectively. Ambitious teams who can comfortably perform algebra can use the Hydrogeology Challenge to understand flow mechanics under normal (static) and pumping conditions. 

While The Groundwater Foundation can’t work with every single team, Frannie hopes that this information will help most students begin to understand the basic concepts of groundwater and hydrodynamics. For information specific to your region, call your local Health and Human Services or Water Utilities departments.  If you are part of an FLL team and you come up with an idea to improve one of our existing activities, please let us know by emailing guardian@groundwater.org.
Good luck in this competition season!

BLOG: 5 Ways to Save Water in Your Home

by Jennifer Wemhoff, The Groundwater Foundation

The average American uses about 100 gallons of water a day. For comparison's sake, the average person in the Netherlands uses only 27 gallons per day, and the average person in the African nation of Gambia uses only 1.17 gallons per day.

So how can we use less?

1. Take Shorter Showers
A quick shower uses 20-30 fewer gallons of water than a bath. Challenge yourself to take just showers of just 5 minutes or less, then challenge your family members to do the same. Use a shower timer to help keep the time down. 

2. Check the Plumbing
Proper maintenance is one of the most effective water savers. Faucet washers are inexpensive and take only a few minutes to replace. At home, check all water taps, hoses, and hose connections (even those that connect to dishwashers and washing machines) for leaks.

3. Don’t Let It Run
It’s simple really, before you turn on the tap, think of ways you can use less water to accomplish the same purpose. Always shut off the water when you brush your teeth, fill the sink when shaving instead of letting the water run, keep a pitcher of water in the fridge instead of running it til it gets cold.

4. Drip No More!
There is no such thing as a little drip. A leaky faucet can waste 10 gallons of water every day. On a toilet, an average leak can add up to 60 gallons per day! Replace worn sink washers or valve seals to get rid of the drip, and check for leaks in a toilet's tank or replace old toilets with low-flush units.

5. Fill It Up
Only run full loads in the dish and clothes washers. Get the most clean for the least amount of water!

For more ways to conserve water, download the free 30by30 water tracking app. Challenge yourself to reduce your water use, and tell us how you did.

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Groundwater Guardian – Get Your Community Involved}

The Groundwater Foundation’s Groundwater Guardian program has been around since 1998, recognizing and providing resources to teams across the nation that protect our groundwater.  Frannie wants to find out how to form a Groundwater Guardian team and start protecting the resources in her community.

Step 1: Find your team members. Anyone can start a Groundwater Guardian team, including citizens, businesses, educators, and local government!

Step 2: Make a list of ways that you can help educate your community about groundwater resources. Come up with your own or learn from other Groundwater Guardians, and put together Result-Oriented Activity (ROA) plans.  Teams have done ROAs like leading an activity at Groundwater Festivals, making educational YouTube videos, and working with local Girl Scouts to complete the Let’s Keep It Clean patch.

Step 3: Go to the Groundwater Guardian section on The Groundwater Foundation’s webpage to download and submit your paperwork. You’ll need to include the contact information of team members and a administrative fee.

Step 4: Get to work! You’re ready to join over 70 teams throughout the US in protecting our groundwater resources. Tell Frannie what your team is doing at guardian@groundwater.org.  

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish {New Year Resolution}

It's almost time to don your party hat and start the countdown to the beginning of 2017! With New Years around the corner Frannie is trying to think of a groundwater-related New Years resolution. She challenges you to do the same!

Frannie's resolution is to personally conserve more water in 2017. This past summer, Frannie used The Groundwater Foundation's 30by30 app to learn how to reduce her daily water use by 30 gallons a day for 30 days, but now she wants to reduce even more! She is going to use the app to reduce her daily water use by 40 gallons. 

Here are a few ways Frannie will accomplish her New Years resolution:

• Turn the water off while she brushes her teeth 

• Only run the dishwasher when it is full

• Take 5 minute showers

Can you think of other ways Frannie can save water everyday?

Share your water-related New Years resolution!

Have a happy and safe New Year! 

Take Action during National Groundwater Awareness Week and Beyond

By: Jessica Wheeler, The Groundwater Foundation

This week is National Groundwater Awareness Week.  You can get involved by learning about groundwater and its irreplaceable role in our lives, then take action to protect and conserve our most precious resource.  Here are a variety of ways you can make a difference this week and all year long:

At Home

• The average American uses 100 gallons of water every day.  Use the fun, free 30by30 app for Apple and Android to learn how to reduce your water usage by 30 gallons a day for 30 days.
• Check out our Top 10 List of ways to conserve and protect groundwater.

Green Spaces

The Green Site program recognizes green spaces that use environmentally-friendly landscape practices related to pesticide and fertilizer use, water use, pollution prevention, water quality, and environmental stewardship.  This program is a great way to generate positive PR for a variety of locations, including golf courses, botanical gardens, ball fields, wellhead protection areas, educational campuses, and more.  What sites in your community should be Green Sites?

In Your Community  

The Groundwater Guardian program brings together communities and businesses across the country in a unified effort to protect and conserve groundwater.  Groundwater Guardian marries the efforts of a strong local team with a clear framework for action to benefit the people and water of a community.  Find a Groundwater Guardian team near you to get involved with or consider starting a team of your own. 


Other Ideas

• Learn more about groundwater.
• Educate youth with The Groundwater Foundation's fun, hands-on activities.
• Help ensure all this good work continues by supporting The Groundwater Foundation!

How are you getting involved during Groundwater Awareness Week?  What will you do the rest of the year?