Saving water challenge

We all know that it is important to preserve our natural resources like water. So how can we do this at home? Get your teen to do a water audit and look for ways of saving water within your home. It's both practical and should save you money. It also gets your teen thinking about how numbers can help us.

Things you need

A previous water bill
Internet access.

The challenge

Use the following resources to discover some key ways you can reduce your water consumption:

Water wise tipsExternal link by Sydney Water
Water use and conservationExternal link by Sydney Water
Reducing Water DemandExternal link by Your Home, Australian Government Department of Industry, Science Energy and Resources.

Get your child to write a list of the tips they'd find practical for your household to start implementing.

The conversation

Discuss the recommendations your teen has given to make your household’s water use more efficient.
Get them to create an action plan for this list. Try to do these things for the next three months and when you get your next water bill, investigate to see if it made a difference.
When you get your new water bill, get your teen to compare it to your previous water bill. If you are able to continue with the water-saving strategies your teen developed, how much money and how much water could you save over a year?
After you've trialed their water-saving ideas as a family for three months, ask them if there's anything they think you should be doing differently. Invite the whole family to join in on this conversation.

The career

The ability to use numbers to make and measure improvements is a really valuable skill. It's hard to find a job where this capability isn't important. From sustainability officers to waiters and shearers to CEOs, being able to use maths to help yourself and others grow and improve really matters.

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