Freshwater Initiative Webquest
Name: ________________________
1. Navigate to the following website:
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/water-footprintcalculator/
OR google national geographic water footprint
2. Click go underneath the water footprint quiz
3. Go through the quiz step by step for you life IN THE US until you reach the end.
Please think CRITICALLY about these questions and come up with the most accurate
answer possible, but if you really don’t know choose the national average.
4. Go through the quiz step by step for you life IN YOUR HOME COUNTRY until you
reach the end. Please think CRITICALLY about these questions and come up with the
most accurate answer possible, but if you really don’t know choose the national average.
5. Fill out the following chart after you’ve completed your quizzes:
Home
Diet
Energy
Stuff
All
Your Water Use (gallons)
National Average (gallons)
4. Now, compare your US results with 3 other classmates.
Home
Diet
Energy
Stuff
All
Classmate 1
Classmate 2
Classmate 3
5. What is an area in which you used MORE water than at least one of your classmates?
6. What is an area in which you used LESS water than at least one of your classmates?
7. Did you pledge to save water in any of the above areas? Which areas? If not, which
area do you think you could save water in?
8. Read the “Every drop counts” section below your quiz results and answer the
following questions.
a. how much water does the average American use? (This is twice as much as the
global average)
b. 95% of our water use is in what categories?
9. Take the freshwater quiz and answer the following questions.
a. What percentage of the Earth’s water is fresh?
b. What is the area of greatest water use?
c. How much water does the average American use per day? How many times
greater is this than the average water use of someone in a developing country?
d. A hundred million years ago, did the Earth have more, less or the same amount
of water it has now?
e. What type of high protein food does it take the most water to raise?
f. What country put the right to resources such as water and forests in its
constitution in 2008? Do you think everyone should have the right to resources
such as these?
g. Which contains more water—the clouds and the water vapor in the atmosphere
or all of the rivers on Earth?
h. Which country has over half of the world’s dams? What is a cost of all of these
dams?
i. Are freshwater or marine animals disappearing more quickly?
j. How much water does it take to produce a pair of blue jeans? WHY does it take
so much?
10. Choose one freshwater hero (towards bottom of page) or advocate (on the right side
of the page) on this website to read about and describe their work here.