Water Waster Challenge

It had been several days since I had seen Barney, Danny and Gina, so I invited them to stay with me last weekend, while my husband, Bill, was out of town. "What's been going on at school?" I asked as I began loading the supper dishes into the dishwasher. (I was soon to find out!)

"Our class had an Earth Day celebration and...Well, I hate to tell you this, Aunty, but I learned that you are a 'WATER WASTER!'" said Danny, shaking his head sadly. "We learned in school that if we each tried to save a little water, it would make a big difference to the earth. Did you know that you waste water when you use the dishwasher?"

"Well, I guess I hadn't thought about it," I admitted. "How much water does it take to run the dishwasher?"

"Well, each machine is different, but most machines use about 10 gallons per wash, while washing the same number of dishes by hand usually takes about 4 gallons," Danny reported.

"Wow!" said Gina. "That's a big difference! In my class I learned that I could save a gallon of water very time I brush my teeth if I just don't let the tap run while I'm doing it!"

" Hey, I have an idea!" said Barney. "Let's figure out how much water we can save this weekend. If we all brush our teeth 3 times a day and Aunt Mathilda washes 3 loads of dishes by hand each day instead of using the dishwasher."

"We can start right now!" I said, laughing. "Hand me those dishes, Barney! Go get the drying towels, Danny and Gina!"

If we followed our good intentions all weekend, starting on Friday evening and ending on Sunday evening after supper, about how much water do you think we saved? What can you do to help our earth besides saving water? I would love to hear your ideas!

I hope you will try this challenge at home or at school and post your and AND your method of solution on the message board. Just click on "I want to send in my solution" at the bottom of this problem. I will be curious about how you did it. What did you have to know in order to solve this problem? Did you use anything to help you figure it out? What was hard about this problem? Simply posting your answer will not get my attention. (I already know the answer.) However, if you remember to tell me how you solved it, I will be so excited that I will just have to post a personal message to you! Check back in a few days, Just click Just click "I want to send in my solution" again and scroll down until you find your posting. Under your posting, you should find a personal response from me, Aunt Mathilda, and perhaps from some other students as well!

Aunty Math regrets she cannot respond to solutions to these Past Challenges but thanks for giving them a try.

Aunty Math problems, copyright 2002, Angela G. Andrews You may download, print and make copies of "Aunt Mathilda's Math Challenges" for use in your classroom provided that you include the copyright notice shown on that page with all copies.