Nicholas Murray
Grade 4, Linden School, Malden
Kate Carbone, Teacher
Return of H2O Man
One sunny day H20 Man was doing his usual job flying around checking on everyone to make sure water was still being conserved. Suddenly he noticed a shiny, clear object on the ground. He flew down to investigate and read the label "water." What was this, a plastic water bottle? He looked around. He started to notice more! They were empty in recycling bins, they were full on store shelves, in restaurants, cars, on soccer and ball fields, at the movies, in the garbage, in the rivers and even in the ocean. There where plastic water bottles everywhere!!! Why, he wondered? Why would this be happening?
H20 Man flew down to a school where kids were playing outside. He asked them about the water bottle situation. The kids told him they were simple to use. They had them with their lunch and at snack. Their parents liked them drinking water and bought it by the case at BJ's and Walmart.
Why? He was confused. All this plastic is not good for the environment. What was wrong with the tap water? It was always available and it didn't cost extra to fill a container. You could get it from a drinking fountain and those were still around. Did people forget all this? Did they forget how to use a cup?
H20 man decided to fly to the MWRA. He checked out the water treatment plant. Everything was working just fine. In fact they were doing a great job keeping the water clean and available. The water was getting to everyone's houses like it always had. He wondered where the bottled water came from. Time for another trip!
This time H20 Man flew to the water bottling plant. He could not believe what he saw. There was so much plastic being used. Did they not know that plastic doesn't go away? He wished they could fly, and then they would see the huge amount of plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean. He found out there are 1,500 water bottles used in the USA every second, but the water isn't any better than tap water. This is horrible, way worse than keeping the sprinklers on in a rain storm!
After spending a whole day learning about bottled and tap water, he came to a simple answer. Tap water was better for people, better for the Earth and way cheaper than bottled water. People had forgotten. You could throw bottled water in your lunch box or just take it anywhere with you. People weren't thinking about all that plastic. They weren't thinking about the MWRA constantly cleaning the tap water or how they could add a filter to their sink for extra clean water.
H20 Man rushed back to the school. He realized he needed to teach the kids. He would teach them to drink from the fountains and refill their bottles at the sink. He would make them tell their parents that they were wasting money and ruining the Earth and their kids' future. He was getting a headache, this was so stressful!
Suddenly H20 man felt thirsty. He opened his eyes. Wait! He wasn't H20 Man, just Nicholas. He sat up in bed and realized it was just another dream.
He looked at his nightstand and saw a bottle of water sitting there ...
"Mom," he yelled. "We need to talk!!!"
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