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Steenrod Elementary Students Learn About Water Conservation

State PSC members visit elementary school

WHEELING -- Members of the West Virginia Public Service Commission stopped by Steenrod Elementary School in Wheeling to teach children about finding leaks and conserving water on Thursday.

The commission visited multiple schools in the state as part of its "Fix A Leak Week," with the goal of teaching third, fourth and fifth graders about water conservation.

"We talk to the kids about why it's important to conserve water, different ways they can do that," spokeswoman Karen Hall said. "We also talk to them about how to find leaks in the home. Some of the major sources of lost water are through household leaks. They're very easy to fix usually."

At Steenrod Elementary, the event included a presentation from commission representative Laura Leport to one class of fourth graders and another class of third graders.

Leport had students guess how much water they use in their home each day. She informed them that toilets use about six gallons of water a day, washing machines use 50 gallons and showers use three gallons per minute.

On average, most people use 70 gallons of water a day, she said, adding that the students should try to use less water when they brush their teeth and try to spend less time in the shower.

"We want to try to conserve any way that we can," Leport said. "These are just little things that we can do."

Hall spoke about the importance of bringing this message to students in third and fourth grades.

"At this age, they're developing ideas about the world and their place in it," she said. "And if we talk to them now about conserving resources, it's something that they take forward through them throughout their lives."

In a press release, the public service commission outlined other steps that adults can take to conserve water and save on their water bills. Such steps include:

∫ Monitoring your water bill. Turn off all water, then read the meter at the beginning and end of two hours. If the meter changes, there is probably a leak.

∫ Check for possible toilet leaks by putting few drops of food coloring in your toilet tank. If you see color in the bowl after 10 minutes, you have a leak.

∫ Fix leaky shower heads by wrapping the pipe stem with pipe tape.

"Water conservation is a critical issue for our society," Public Service Commission Chairman Michael Albert said in the release. "The average household loses more than 10,000 gallons of water every year, enough to flush a low-flow toilet more than 6,000 times. The money you save on your water bills will more than pay for the small cost of fixing these leaks."

At the end of the presentation, commission police officer A.W. Ryan deputized the students as leak detectives.

The students read the following oath aloud: "I pledge to be the very best leak detective I can be. Leaks may be sneaky but they can't hide from me. I will search my home for drips and leaks and report them to the adults in my home. I will turn off the water when I'm not using it. When I'm using the water, I won't waste it. I will share what I've learned about saving with my whole family."

"That's it guys, you're official leak detectives," Ryan said.