Mr Winzer’s Grade 5/6 class at Valemount Elementary looked closely at the distribution and usage of water around the word. Living near the headwaters of different watersheds makes it difficult to imagine that there are places that do not have access to an abundance of clean water.

After learning about water distribution in various parts of the world, the students took part in an activity that helped them to understand how others access water. One group had a very limited supply of clean water to represent years of drought.

They had to decide as a group how best to distribute the water to meet the needs of agriculture, industry and families. The other group had clean water nearby that they could not access. To access water, although not clean, they had to trek over an obstacle course carrying a back pack and filling only one cup at a time.
As a group careful decisions were made about how best to attribute the water. Student began to understand how important it was to carefully transport their water. There was also an understanding of how difficult it can be for people to meet their needs in different situations.