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* Introduction
* Narrative
* Objectives/Activities
* Activity Examples
* Daily Water Use Record
* Bibliography
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"Elegant clouds the shape and color of
salmon float against the green
sky of dawn. Rose on green,
heads into the wind stream.
Coyotes are crying down the moon."
(Abbey, 1971)

This pristine image of the west is painted in words by Edward Abbey in his novel, Beyond the Wall, Such images are presented by numerous authors of the American Southwest landscape and become a magnet for individuals, business, agriculture and others in their transmigration to the arid and semi-arid lands of the west. Edward Abbey continues the aforementioned passage with a sense of wonder,

"Still lying in my sack, I hear the thud
of hoofs near the water trough
by the well, two hundred yards
off. Antelope? Deer? Javelina?
I rise and peer into the gloom
but see nothing through the
brush. The sound dies away."
(Abbey, 1971)

Increased population of the desert southwest has placed many demands on natural resources. The issue of water availability has been primarily at the top of that list. The 'water trough,' of which Abbey speaks, becomes the microcosm of the human condition in the arid to semi-arid southwest. Numerous entities armed with corporate or personal agendas are regularly increasing the demand for water acquisition. Industry, agriculture and household demands put increasing pressure on the Rio Grande Aquifer, causing the draw of water to be greater than the aquifer’s ability to recharge.

Clive Agnew and Evan Anderson in, "Water Resources in the Arid Realm," state,

Personal household ownership and responsibility relative to water use is essential while also being aware that certain types of industrial and agriculture methods are less than conducive to arid regions.

Joel E. Cohen in his book, How Many People Can the Earth Support, asks essential questions,

"The best short answers to these questions, "Cohen goes on to say," show that much remains to be learned about natural constraints, and that natural constraints cannot be viewed other than through the lens of human purposes." (4)

In answering the question of how much water is available Cohen reports the following;

It is evident and important that New Mexicans learn from their history and its early inhabitants as they related to water and other environmental matters.

In William Albert Allard’s book, "Vanishing Breed," Thomas McGuane writes in the Forward,

Students in the "Household Water Resource Management Curriculum," will gain an understanding of the problems that confront the place where they live. They will be presented data on water use behaviors and how they can take ownership on a personal level to conserve water. The curriculum unit directs itself to the reluctant learner but can be adapted to other groups of students. The purpose of the curriculum is to create knowledge recognition of water issues in the Albuquerque region while allowing students a better understanding of their water behaviors in their households.

The demands on the source of water in the Albuquerque region happen not only in the residential sector but also reflect commercial, industrial, and institutional demands. A 20-year projection of Albuquerque's historical annual ground water pumping trend and its annual metropolitan area ground water storage depletion resulting from water management options has been readily observed. Albuquerque's water use per capita exceeds that of Denver, Phoenix, El Paso, and Tucson. (7)

Pending and existing city ordinances could ultimately affect personal and household behaviors that relate to water resources. Informed citizens will more readily adjust or adequately debate their necessity or importance. Personal household water data is important to understand, as is the need for life style changes that promote improved water conservation. An improved understanding of global issues related to 'water,' could also more easily evolve as a result of personal and household conservation measures.

The water resource management curriculum will be (15) days in duration with an additional (5) days available for additional time if needed. Activities in this curriculum, however, create the opportunity to expand this unit into additional days. 'Water user guides,' will be distributed to each student for the purpose of completing calculations for water use charting and graphing.

* denotes class activity examples

A) Students will be given 'water user guide data sheets,' on the first day of class with the expectation that they will successfully be able to demonstrate how water is used and the amount that is used in specific household activities.

B) Students will maintain a 'water unit notebook,' to be used specifically for the water management unit.

C) Students will chart or graph daily water use in their home location using a class distributed water facts chart.

D) Students will create and maintain a ‘water article,’ scrapbook that includes local articles from newspapers and magazines.

E) *Students will role play the arguments of 'water user,' types for the purpose of increasing an understanding of the competition for water.

F) Students will research water articles related to the Albuquerque region and write their reactions to the readings.

G) Students will orally present their research finding to the class.

H) *Students will formally discuss assigned water problems in a group format using a formal problem solving discussion process.

I) Students will create a 'community service activity,' that relates to water conservation (speaking to youth groups, distributing water conservation pamphlets, creating posters, visiting a meeting of the water conservancy district, etc.)

J) Students will write letters seeking information from agencies or individuals involved with water management or regulation.

K) Students will be expected to have a basic understanding of water rights as they relate to the Albuquerque region.

L) Students will be expected to know water conserving strategies and how to implement those strategies in their households.

M) Students will write essays, (five paragraph style), to solve assigned water problems presented by the instructor.

N) Students will design their own city that attempts to maximize water conservation.

O) Students will write a short story set during the time of the early Pueblo cultures. Each student’s goal in writing the story is to demonstrate how they would use the environment while minimizing depredation because of present day knowledge.

P) *Students will complete a water conservation project.

1) Watering the lawn for one-half hour uses approximately 240 gallons of water.

2) Flushing the toilet uses approximately five gallons of water.

3) A five-minute shower uses 25-35 gallons of water.

4) About 30 gallons of water are needed to do a standard load of laundry.

5) Using a dishwasher requires about 15 gallons of water.

6) Washing dishes by hand uses an average of 10 gallons of running water.

7) Taking a bath in a tub of hot water uses about 4.0 gallons of water.

8) The average water use per person per day in Albuquerque is 250 gallons as compared

to approximately 185 gallons of water per person per day nationally.

9) In the United States approximately two-thirds of the fresh water used is for agriculture. (5)

10) Approximately 1% of the water consumed is for drinking. (8)

Students in class will take the part of a water user in their community. Business, agriculture, and personal household users among others can be represented. Students will research the needs of that water user and debate their position when confronted by a community water shortage. Each water user will get the same prescribed time to present their case and defend their reasons why their water use is important to the community.

Ground rules should be agreed upon before the role playing activity begins. A debate format can be effective and allows each group their time to present and defend.

Example: Five minute presentation time

Two minutes to defend

Three minutes for closing arguments

(This format is arbitrary and can be adapted to the particular class)

The remaining class members, not involved in the debate, can vote by secret ballot on who they believe best presented their case. A class discussion can follow, processing the activity and securing ideas and opinions by all class members. (essays, speeches, etc. could result from this role playing activity.)

(a five member group will use the following steps in the discussion process)

1) Define the problem
2) Limit the problem
3) Define the terms in the problem
4) Discuss the problem
5) Suggest possible solutions
6) Test possible solutions
7) Select best possible solution or solutions

It is important that members of the 'discussion process group,' stay on each step until it is finished. The process order is necessary to keep the task of problem solving from losing direction. A group leader should be assigned the task of keeping the group on the correct step while also participating as a contributing group member. A natural leader may also emerge if the assigned leader is not meeting the needs of the group process.

Step two of the process means to limit the problem to a more narrow issue. ex. (Potential water shortages in the Albuquerque region vs. water shortages nationally) Always set the problem to be discussed into a resolve. ex.(Resolve that the city government of Albuquerque should create more water restrictions for household water users)
Defining the terms in the problem, step three, means to look at each word in the resolve to determine equal understanding of what they mean.

Step six of the process means to discuss the suggested solutions to determine their worth. The definitions of steps two, three, and six were explained because they tend to represent the greatest challenges to a group. The discussion process can be used to analyze and hypothetically solve current water issues within the region as determined by the class group.

(twenty-five gallons of water per day = water use in many Third World Countries)

Students will be limited to 25 gallons of water per day in their household. Each member of their family will be restricted to the same standard each having their own 25 gallons. (1% of their allotment is for drinking)

Students will record and graph their water use from the water guide chart given to them on the first day of class.

How would these restrictions change the way you and your family live and communicate and what problems would you expect to encounter? Consider strategies that you and your family could use to survive this type of water shortage?

TOTAL ALL WATER USED ___________

A ONE PAGE PAPER THAT DEMONSTRATES A STRATEGY THAT COULD REDUCE THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF WATER USED.

1 Agnew, Anderson 135.

2 Chilton, et al., 57.

3 Chilton, et al, 57.

4 Cohen, 297.

5 Cohen, 303.

6 Allard, (Forward)

7 Bovee, 157.

8 Albuquerque Journal, B1 and B3

Abbey, Edward. Beyond the Wall. New York: Rinehart, and Winston, 1971.
(Wise and lyrical book about landscapes of the desert and the mind.)

Agnew, Clive, and Evan Anderson. Water Resources in the Arid Realm. New York: Routledge, Inc. 1992.
(Study of population growth, industrialization, and environmental mismanagement.)

Allard, William Albert, Vanishing Breed. Boston: Little Brown and Company. 1982.
(Photographs of the Cowboy and the West.)

Bovee, Cindy., Dora Marroquin, and Estelle Zannes. Environmental Citizenship. Albuquerque: New Mexico Bar Foundation . 1995.
(Law- related education and classroom lessons about environmental issues.)

Chilton, Lance., et al. New Mexico (a new guide to the colorful state). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1984.

Cohen, Joel E., How Many People Can The Earth Support. New York, London: W.W. Norton and Company. 1995.
(a scholarly review and analysis of population issues)

Kneese, Allen V., and F. Lee Brown. The Southwest Under Stress. New York: Resources for the Future, Inc. 1981.
(A study of energy versus the environment)

Merritts, Dorothy and Andrew De Wet, and Kirsten Menking. Environmental Geology. New York: Freeman. 1998.
(Interdisciplinary approach to environmental geosciences)

Molles, Manuel C., Ecology., Boston: McGraw Hill. 1999.
(The goal of this book is to build a foundation of ecological knowledge around key concepts)

Rosner, Joan and Hy Rosner., et al., Albuquerque's Environmental Story. Albuquerque: Albuquerque Public Schools. 1985.

"Stem Flow to Reduce Water Use Bill." Albuquerque Journal 18 Feb. 1995: B1 and B3 (Article presents water use statistics in the household.)

Wargo, John. Our Children's Toxic Legacy. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998.
(In this book the author persuasively argues that a full-scale overhaul of the regulation and management of pesticides and other toxic chemicals is needed.)