Our philosophy

We strongly believe in a sustainable water future for our cities. Such cities need supportive and informed residents at their core — people who know where their drinking water comes from, where it ends up and how it is protected, and who understand the importance of responsible water usage all round.

Teaching objectives

We have created a series of lessons and activities around water resource management. By the end of the case study, students will be able to:

• explain what direct and indirect water use are and define 'water footprint'
• outline how water is moving through the city, from lakes to tap and back again to rivers
• illustrate the effect of population increase and climate change on water resources
• analyse outputs of a real water resource management model and interpret the results to support decisions about water saving solutions
• present their recommendations and support their stance with model outputs

Lesson structure

Each lesson can be a standalone feature but together the lessons form a coherent unit. Lessons consist of teacher and student presentations, homework problems and a teacher's pack.

• ❶ Lesson 1

  This lesson introduces students to the idea of urban or local water cycles and the importance of water in our everyday lives. It also demonstrates the impeffectact of our everyday decisions on water resources, both locally and globally.

• ❷ Lesson 2

  Lesson 2 introduces concepts such as population increase, climate change and water resource models.

• ❸ Lesson 3

  The third lesson brings concepts from the two previous lessons together to form a role-playing activity. Students form engineering teams tasked with solving London's water issues. Students will use a real water resource management model to complete the activity.

Teacher's pack

You can download a teacher's pack to help you run these lessons in your classroom.

Contact us about the teacher's pack →

Lesson information and learning tools

Resources for students include homework and slide download links.

Resources for teachers include a water footprint graphing tool and role-playing activity assistance.

Lesson information and learning tools →