The Kid's Re-generation Detective

Preventing water and air pollution starts at home. Ask your parents to join you in developing your own air and water home improvement plan! Some immediate things you can do are start a compost pile to reduce waste in landfills (Gloss), which are a major source of underground water pollution, and walk or ride your bike whenever it's safe. Cutting down on the number of car trips can help reduce air pollution.

Water…
1. Find out where your home gets water from–and make a field trip to the reservoir or other source. If you have a well, ask your parents when the water quality was last tested.

2. Talk with the whole family about how to safely get rid of household chemicals and other items that can endanger the water system. Better yet, work on changing over to environmentally friendly cleaners–even ordinary baking soda can be used as a powerful cleanser! Go to The Water Treatment Path and learn how difficult it is to "clean" water.

3. Practice conserving water. Using less water means that less water needs to be treated (sanitized) at a treatment plant. Three easy ways to conserve water are: Take quick showers instead of baths, don't let the water run while brushing your teeth, and if you see a leaky faucet, remind your parents to fix it.

Air…
1. Put more houseplants inside, and expand your garden outside! You’ll be cleaning up the air inside and out.

2. For cleanest air and better health, insist that your home be "SMOKE-FREE." Secondhand cigarette smoke harms everyone’s health—even the dog and cat—and can lead to upper-respiratory infections (head, chest, and sinus problems), asthma attacks, and even cancer. Click on the cigarette icon at this site and learn how bad secondhand smoke really is.

Is the air and water in your school as fresh as it could be? Is air recirculated in the building? Do you get a chance to go outside every day to breathe fresh air? These are a few areas you and your class can focus on for detective work. Here are some other ideas for discovery and action:

1. Start a class watershed project. The land we live on is divided into watersheds—areas where water runs off and collects in rivers and streams, and is carried out to the sea. Keeping watersheds clean–and cleaning up watersheds that have gotten polluted—is so important that groups of people can even adopt a watershed.

2. Share the information on clean water and air that is available in the Web sites listed here. Have your class talk about the ways to clean up air and water, and share the list with parents, teachers, and other classes. For a good example of many ways to take care of a body of water, check out what the Chesapeake Bay folks are doing.

3. Study ways to make buildings that "breathe" well–allowing for the best indoor air. This can become a research project or even a science fair project–where you plan a model school to have the freshest possible air.

Water and air are so vital to human life, we all have to look closely at our communities and try to help everyone gain a better understanding of water systems and the air we breathe. Here are some suggestions for projects:

1. Hold a poster contest. You and your friends could have your own poster contest–maybe involving community stores and businesses. Have everyone design a poster or picture, and include a catchy phrase about caring for the air and water. Then give them to businesses to post in their store windows.

2. Organize a community clean up day. Rally the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, your soccer team, local civic organizations, and all your friends and family. Pick a meeting place–like a park or schoolyard–and tell everyone to come with their rubber gloves on and trash bags in hand! Better yet, clean up your community AND celebrate Mother Earth by planning your clean-up day for Earth Day, which takes place April 22nd every year.