Water Quality
Module 3

Lesson 1- Pass The Jug Game, Activity 
Acknowledgement: Taken from "Living on the Land 2001"

Materials Needed:

1. Clear plastic gallon jug
2. Tap water
3. Red food coloring
4. Squeeze bottle
5. Clear plastic cups (enough for two each per participant)

Start with a clear plastic jug three-quarters full of tap water, and a small container of water with red food coloring in it. The solution should be bright red. A bottle with a squeeze spout works well for distributing the "contaminated" red water.

Give each participant two cups: one empty cup and one with a squirt of the "tainted" water in it. Pass the jug of tap water to the first person. Each person pours some water into his/her empty cup. This represents their daily use. Let them select the amount to pour. Each person then mixes a little bit of colored water with the clean water and pours it back into the jug before passing it on to the next person. This represents the small amount everyone can contribute to water pollution (nonpoint source pollution) via polluted runoff, etc.

Note how the quantity and quality of the water changes as it moves down the line. This exercise usually starts interesting comments and conversations. Consider assigning each person to represent a community, starting with the communities at the top of the watershed who have the most water and the cleanest water. This will graphically illustrate how downstream users may become recipients of the most pollution.

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