[intro] Oh, hey there! I was just looking
up information on how to fix a faucet. I turned off the kitchen faucet
after washing my hands, and noticed that there was
still some water dripping out of it. And I don’t want to waste water!
[Squeaks is concerned] Oh, don’t worry, Squeaks!
Squeaks is worried that if we waste too much water,
the world could completely run out. And I can see why you would think that.
Sometimes, when we waste something, or use more than we need, we run out of it.
Like, if you use way too much toilet paper in the bathroom,
soon, you won’t have any left. But I’m happy to say that the Earth
isn’t going to completely run out of water. Our planet has a lot of water!
Look, Squeaks. This is what the
Earth looks like from outer space. All of that blue we can see is ocean. You can
see that most of the Earth is covered with ocean! And oceans are full of water.
In fact, they contain almost all of the water on Earth!
We can show that on this chart. If this circle showed all of Earth’s water…
this much of it would be in the oceans. [Squeaks asks a question]
Oh, I see what you mean, Squeaks! Squeaks mentioned that even though
there’s a lot of water in the oceans, it isn’t water we can drink. And he’s right!
That’s because ocean water is saltwater. That means, well, it’s got lots of salt in it!
And that’s just fine for the animals and plants that live in the ocean.
Those animals can drink saltwater, and the plants can use it to grow!
But many of the plants and animals that live on land can’t use saltwater.
Like, if people drink ocean water, it’ll make them sick!
Our pets and farm animals can’t drink it, either.
And ocean water isn’t good to use on the plants in our gardens.
So we need to use what’s called freshwater. Freshwater doesn’t have a lot of salt in it.
[shows pie chart] But here’s the thing:
If we look at our chart again, we can see that only about this much of Earth’s water is fresh.
Which isn’t a lot. And we can’t use a lot of
Earth’s freshwater, either! [Squeaks asks why]
Good question, Squeaks. To see why… let’s look at the Earth
from space again. Most of our planet’s
freshwater is frozen into ice. A lot of it is at the Earth’s
north and south poles. To use this frozen water…
we’d have to get to it, let it melt, and take it to where we need to use it.
That’s a lot of work, so this water is really hard to use.
Other freshwater is under the ground. We can get to a little of it, but most
of It is so deep that we can’t access it. So if we take away the freshwater that’s frozen…
or is in a place where we can’t use it … that leaves us with only this much
for all of the people on Earth to use. And that’s where not wasting water comes in.
The Earth isn’t going to run out of fresh water. Even once you use freshwater to brush your teeth
or wash your hands, it eventually gets cleaned up at special buildings and put back into the
water supply for other people to use. But that process still takes some time.
So we need to do our part to make sure there’s always enough clean, freshwater for everyone
to use every day. [Squeaks squeaks]
That’s a great question! I’ll work on fixing the faucet,
but there are also some easy things you can do to help.
Probably the easiest thing to do is to make sure that you turn off the faucet
all the way when you’re done using it. Even a little bit of dripping can add
up to a lot of wasted water. Another easy thing — you can turn off
the tap while you brush your teeth. Just by doing this, you can save
about 30 liters of water a day! That’s almost eight big jugs of milk!
There are things you can do to save water when it’s time to get clean, too.
Like, taking a shorter shower can help. See if you can take one
in less than five minutes — as long as you’re still washing up!
Or, if you like baths instead, you can use the bathtub stopper right when you turn
on the faucet, instead of letting the water run down the drain until it gets hot.
You can also help keep Earth’s water clean by making sure you throw trash away in
garbage cans when you’re outside. And, of course, you can also help
by learning more about Earth’s water. The more we all know, the better we can
take steps to make sure that everyone has the clean, fresh water they need.
And on that note, I think I’m ready to try fixing the kitchen faucet!
Come on, Squeaks… let’s go save some water! Thanks for joining me here at The Fort.
If you want to keep learning and having fun with Squeaks, me, Jessi, and all our other friends,
be sure to hit the subscribe button, and we'll see you next time on SciShow Kids!
[ outro ]