Welcome to Wateropoly. This game teaches students how we all make choices to waste or
conserve water throughout our day.
Preparations:
1. Cut out the playing cards. Sort them into the four categories: Kitchen, Yard, Bathroom, and
Other Rooms. Don’t worry about whether the cards are Water Conservers or Water Wasters.
Place each stack of cards face down so students can pull a card when directed.
2. Hang the game board at the front of the room if you are playing as a whole group. If students
are playing in small groups you will need to make a copy of the game board for each group.
3. If you play as a whole group, divide the class into four groups and assign them a color. You
can use sticky notes for the game pieces as it hangs in the front of the room. If students are
playing in small groups, make sure they have piece to move around the board – sticky notes or
paper clips work.
Play:
1. Make a score board giving each team 80 gallons of water to start. That’s how much we each
use at home per day.
2. Call a student from the first team to come up to the cards and take a turn. They should roll the
die, move their piece that number of spaces, and pull the appropriate card. After reading their
card, the student calculates their new score. Then ask a student from the next group to come up
and so on.
After the first round of turns, your score board might look like this:
Red
80
+ 25
105
Green
80
- 10
70
Blue
Orange
80
+ 5
85
80
+ 12
92
Winning:
Play continues until every student has had a chance to play if you are playing with the whole
class. If students are playing in small groups, you will be in charge of deciding when “the day is
done” and play should stop. The winning team is the one who has the most water at the end of
the game. Teams with negative amounts of water have used up their own water, and some of our
future water. Quiz students about what they could have done to conserve water.
If you would like more (or larger) game boards, or if you have questions, please contact Sharon
Sivinski, 768-3245 or email [email protected]
www.abcwua.org
Start with
56 gallons of
river water and
24 gallons of
ground water.
START!
Pick a
Bathroom
Card
Pick a
Yard
Card
Pick a
Bathroom
Card
Pick a
Kitchen
Card
WATEROPOLY
“Life in the Desert”
Pick a
Rooms
Card
Pick a
Bathroom
Card
Pick a
Yard
Card
Pick a
Kitchen
Card
Wateropoly Rules (You get 80 gallons of water to
start, then add and subtract as directed.)
1. Everybody gets 56 gallons of river water and
24 gallons of ground water for one day.
2. Roll the die and move your piece that number of
spaces.
3. Pick up the designated card and add or subtract
gallons according to the card. Bury the card in
its pile when you are finished with it.
4. The winner is the one who has the most gallons
of water when the teacher calls time. (Make sure
everyone gets the same number of turns.)
Pick a
Bathroom
Card
Caution! Is it possible to have negative
gallons of water? Yes! That is when
you are using our future supplies of
water. Try not to go there.
Pick a
Rooms
Card
Pick a
Kitchen
Card
Pick a
Rooms
Card
Pick a
Bathroom
Card
Pick a
Yard
Card
Pick a
Rooms
Card
Pick a
Kitchen
Card
Pick a
Bathroom
Card
Pick a
Rooms
Card
Pick a
Yard
Card
Pick a
Bathroom
Card
Why does it take water to make electricity? Most of our
electricity in Albuquerque is generated from coal-fired
plants NW New Mexico. The coal is burned to boil water,
and the steam turns turbines which make electricity. Water
is also used to cool the equipment. It takes 1/2 gallon of
water to make 1 Kilowatt-hour.
Pick a
Kitchen
Card
Pick a
Rooms
Card
Pick a
Yard
Card
Pick a
Bathroom
Card
Pick a
Bathroom
Card
Pick a
Kitchen
Card
Bathroom Water Waster
You’ve got a leaky faucet. Even a slow leak
wastes 5 gallons per day. Subtract 5 gallons
of water.
Bathroom Water Conserver
Install a low flow shower head. Save 2.5
gallons per minute. During your 5 minute
shower, you saved 12.5 gallons of water.
Add 12.5 gallons of water.
Bathroom Water Waster
Leaky toilet! You can’t see it or hear it, but it
can waste 10-200 gallons per day. (Put dye
in your toilet tank to check for leaks. If the
color shows up in the bowl after a few
minutes, you’ve got a leak.) Subtract 25
gallons of water.
Bathroom Water Conserver
You only filled the tub one quarter full
instead of half full. Since a full tub uses 100
gallons of water, you saved 25 gallons of
water. Add 25 gallons of water.
Bathroom Water Waster
You left the water running while brushing
your teeth. Waste two gallons, one in the
morning, one at night. Subtract 2 gallons of
water.
Bathroom Water Conserver
Install a low flow toilet – save 4.5 gallons
per flush. Roll die to find out how many
flushes today. Multiply the number on the
die by 4.5 to see how much you saved.
Add 4.5 x (Number on the Die) gallons
of water.
Bathroom Water Waster
You flushed a dust bunny down the toilet
instead of putting it in the garbage can.
Since you don’t have a low flow toilet, you
wasted 6 gallons. Subtract 6 gallons of
water.
Bathroom Water Conserver
With a bucket under the tub faucet, you
captured the cool water before the hot
water for your tub started flowing. You can
use that water for watering your plants or
housecleaning. Add 5 gallons.
Bathroom Water Waster
Your shower took 15 minutes, 10 minutes
longer than necessary. Your showerhead is
not low flow so it uses 5 gallons per minute.
Your 10 extra minutes of showering wasted
50 gallons. Subtract 50 gallons of water.
Kitchen Water Conserver
You fixed a leaky faucet. Slow leaks waste 5
gallons a day, but yours was dripping more
quickly. You’ll save 20 gallons a day. Add 20
gallons of water.
Bathroom Water Waster
You left the water running while you shampooed your hair and shaved. Since your
faucet is not low flow, it uses 5 gallons of
water a minute. Roll the die to see how
many minutes of water you wasted. Subract
5 x (Number on the Die) gallons of water.
Kitchen Water Conserver
You added an aerator to your kitchen faucet
to mix air with water. Now you only use 2.5
gallons of water per minute, instead of 5.
Roll the die to find out how minutes you
used your new faucet. Add 2.5 x (Number
on the Die) gallons of water.
ABCWUA Water Resource Education 2009-2010 www.abcwua.org
Kitchen Water Waster
Doing the dishes by hand is fine, but you left
the rinse water running while you washed.
Instead, you should have filled the second
sink with water for rinse. Subtract 25
gallons of water.
Other Rooms Water Conserver
Buy a front loading washing machine. Top
loading machines use 40 – 50 gallons per
load, but front loaders use less than 25
gallons per load. Add 25 gallons of water.
Kitchen Water Waster
You left the water running while washing
fruits and vegetables instead of rinsing in a
basin of water. Subtract 5 gallons of water.
Other Rooms Water Conserver
You replaced eight, 100 watt incandescent
light bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Light
bulbs (70% more efficient). The old bulbs
used 5.5 kWh of electricity per day. Now
you use only 1.5 kWh, saving 4 kWh.
Add 2 gallons of water.
Kitchen Water Waster
Ran the dishwasher half full. Since dishwashers use about 12 gallons per load, you
wasted 6 gallons of water. Subtract 6
gallons of water.
Kitchen Water Saver
You only run the dishwasher when it is full.
Add 6 gallons of water.
Yard Water Waster
You washed the car today. You let the water
run instead of using a nozzle on the hose to
stop the water flow while you washed. The
hose runs 20 gallons of water a minute! Roll
the die and see how many minutes you
worked. Subtract 20 x (Number on the Die)
gallons of water.
Yard Water Conserver
You watered your 10 ft x 10 ft lawn in the
early morning when evaporation is the
lowest. Not only did you avoid a fine, you
saved 30 gallons of water that would have
evaporated in the afternoon. Add 30
gallons of water.
Yard Water Waster
Forgot to turn off the water in the flower
bed. The hose runs 20 gallons per minute.
Subtract 20 x (Number on the Die) gallons
of water of water.
Yard Water Conserver
You replaced a 10 ft x 10 ft patch of blue
grass with native plants and mulch. (10’ x
10’ is about the size of bedroom.)You used
to use 60 gallons when you watered, now
you only use 20. You saved 40 gallons today.
Add 40 gallons of water.
Yard Water Waster
Using only rock for your landscaping makes
your house hot. Use 2 hours more of air
conditioning, or 7 kWh of electricity. (1 kWh
of electricity uses 1/2 gallon of water)
Subtract 3.5 gallons.
Yard Water Conserver
You fixed the sprinkler that was watering
the street instead of your lawn. Add 35
gallons of water.
ABCWUA Water Resource Education 2009-2010 www.abcwua.org
Other Rooms Water Waster
Left the lights on in the living room all night.
You wasted 4 kWh or electricity. It takes
about 1/2 gallon of water to produce one
kWh of electricity from coal powered
plants. Subtract 2 gallons of water.
Other Rooms Water Waster
Washed a half load of clothing in a toploading machine. Top loading washers use
40-50 gallons of water, but front loaders use
less than 25 gallons per load. Subtract 20
gallons of water.
Other Rooms Water Waster
You fell asleep in front of the TV. Your TV
and computer were on all night, wasting
2kWh of electricity. Subtract 1 gallon of
water.
Other Rooms Water Waster
You cleaned your fish tank, but threw the
fishy water down the drain. Your plants
would have loved that water! Subtract 12
gallons of water.
ABCWUA Water Resource Education 2009-2010 www.abcwua.org