For many people, it’s difficult to understand why water conservation is important. Water (H2O) is everywhere, after all, right? And we can clean it – so why do we have to be careful about our water usage? While teaching these lessons to adults can be difficult, parents who choose to teach their children about why their water usage is important helps them understand their impact on the world around them, influence their friends, and grow up to be conscious users of the world’s resources.

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According to Heart Water, each of their bottles contains 23.9 fluid ounces and the average US family of four uses over 2,250 bottles-worth of water daily. That’s 400 gallons of water every day in water usage!

Here are 4 great ways to teach children the importance of water and how to use it wisely.

Let them know the Importance of Water

Don’t be ashamed if you too aren’t exactly sure why it’s so important to save water – you can learn at the same time as your children. It’s important to lay the foundation for why water conservation is important, so when you tell them to turn the tap off while they brush their teeth and they ask “why?”, your answer isn’t just “because I say so.”

Fortunately, there are a ton of free and affordable resources to help you teach the importance of the water life cycle and why it’s important to conserve water (besides your bill). This Mystery Science free online lesson is a great place to start for kids around 10, but you can find plenty of books on Amazon that will explain it to younger children and resources on Pinterest.

Create a Bathroom Routine

You likely already have a nightly bathroom routine for your child where they brush their teeth, wash their face, or do whatever else it is they need to do that evening to prepare for bed and the next day. Tomorrow, go into the bathroom with them and make sure they turn off the faucet while they brush their teeth or rub their faces and if they’re unwilling, put in the plug to show them how much clean water is running away down the drain while they do other things.

When you run a bath or help them take a shower, make sure they understand how to turn the shower off as soon as possible after. If you have kids who hate bathing time, use that to your advantage to encourage fast (but effective!) shower times. Challenge them to get as clean as possible in under five minutes.

Baths Should Be a Treat

A shower uses 10 – 25 gallons of water while a bath uses as much as 70 gallons, so teach your children to share baths while they’re little or have them as a treat as they get older. Baths are relaxing and you can create a ritual of relaxation around them even while children are young, so use some natural bath salts or bath toys for a once-a-week or less bath time.

Recycle Use Water

Recycle Uncontaminated Water on Plants – Teach your children to use uncontaminated (without chemicals or soaps) leftover water on the plants inside or outside your home. If you don’t have one, consider buying a potted plant so your children can “feed” the plant with their leftover drinking water. This is especially important if you live in a hot climate where it doesn’t often rain or snow, as water is even more valuable.

If you have a fish tank, show them the importance of cleaning the tank and using that water on the plants. This water will have extra nutrients in it that will feed the plants too, so don’t just throw it down the drain.