Students teach their parents to care for the environment

If you are a parent of a CK fourth grader, you may have to start cleaning up your act. Yesterday at the Kitsap Science Connections teachers workshop, teachers reported feedback from parents that tells us that students are bringing what they learn from their new science kit home. Kitsap Science Connections is a science kit containing lessons that teach about our local Kitsap County environment. The fourth and final teacher kit training was held yesterday. Lessons were reviewed and edited by the twelve enthusiastic teachers that are piloting the kit.

The final segment of the year long kit focused on pollution, solid waste and recycling. Resulting from what the students learned, the fourth graders are making sure that parents wash cars on the grass to avoid soap entering storm drains and that dog poop is disposed of properly. Kids are even looking at what mom and dad are using to clean the house. These are examples of the real life connections that are being made between school and home.

This kind of learning is what is being called for by the state learning standards for science. One of the four Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) for science is - Application, which is explained as. . . . "the ability for people to apply what they learn in school to meet challenges in their own lives, to understand and help solve societal problems involving science and technology, and contribute to the prosperity of their community, state, and nation."*

Proudly, the science kit, cooperatively built by Kitsap PUD, Kitsap County Public Works and the CK School district is bringing learning home into the real world.

* from Washington State K-12 Science Learning Standards prepared by Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, June 2009.

How to Water your Lawn Less and Still Have Plenty of Green

Picture a neighborhood of expansive green manicured lawns. Listen, in your mind, to the sprinklers hissing on an early summer’s morning. This scene conjures up a feeling of prosperity and security. But wait . . . is this ideal lawn realistic or even desirable? Think about what it takes to keep this green monster picture perfect. In the summer growing season, lawns suck up over half of the potable water used. While green lawns make our neighborhoods more livable – a little green can go a long way. Remember, pertaining to grass – less is more.

Let’s do the numbers. The average lawn needs one inch of water per week. If you have a 1/5 of an acre of lawn, as the average American does, you have almost 9,000 square feet to water. We know that it takes .62 gallons of water to cover one square foot of turf with one inch of water. This means that your 9,000 square foot lawn is using 55,000 gallons of water per week. This is 34,000 toilet flushes, 2,200 loads of laundry and 110,000 cool glasses of water. This is if you are only watering one inch per week. If you have an automatic irrigation system – you may water twice this amount and not even realize it.

Why not keep some green and let the rest of your lawn go brown? Pick out a small section of lawn that you and your family use daily and apply your one inch a week rule to this area. Bordering this small lawn with a perennial bed of drought tolerant plants is a plus! Since our maritime climate allows our lawns to stay green most of the year, the rest of the lawn can take a siesta during the summer months. Here are some hints:

Make sure your lawn is in good shape. Newly seeded lawns should not be allowed to go dormant. Make sure your lawn is established. Aerate the lawn to rid it of thatch build up. Check with the WSU extension office, www.extension.org/horticulture, to determine the needs of your particular variety of grass.

Raise your mower blade. When the grass is still green and growing, mow with a sharp blade set at a height of 3 – 3 1/2 inches. Longer grass will increase its drought tolerance and may allow the grass to stay greener longer.

Allow your grass to go dormant. When precipitation decreases in the summer, allow the lawn to go dormant. It may turn brown, but it will perk up to green with cooler fall temperature and rainfall.

Water enough to keep the grass alive. The rule of thumb is ½ inch of water every 2 – 3 weeks. Don’t forget to add in precipitation! Set up an inexpensive rain gauge to measure the rainfall your lawn is naturally getting. Don’t expect your grass to turn green.

Control weeds without herbicides. Dandelions may be awake while the lawn is sleeping. Pull weeds, roots and all, by hand. Dormant lawns don’t tolerate herbicides well.

Water deeply to jump start your lawn. The first rains will green up your lawn, but you can jump start this process by applying enough water to penetrate the root zone when temperatures cool down.

Enjoy some green lawn this summer, but let the rest take a nap. You may be able to enjoy some extra time in the hammock, too.

Toilet Rebates Available for Kitsap PUD Customers

Toilets are the main source of water use in the home accounting for 30% of residential indoor water consumption. Many times, older toilets leak and are inefficient. Although the plumbing code requires low flow toilets, many homes are still using older toilets that use 3-5 gallons per flush. High Efficiency Toilets (HETs) flush using at least 20% less water than the current federal standard of 1.6 gallons per flush. Replacing older toilets with newer HET toilets could save 4,000 gallons of water per year per customer.

Buying an EPA WaterSense toilet takes the homework out of shopping for a toilet. The WaterSense label tells the buyer that the toilet is a high-performance, water efficient model. The toilets come in a variety of prices and styles. Design advances enable WaterSense labeled toilets to save water with no trade-off of flushing power. According to the EPA, many perform better than standard models during consumer testing.

Here’s how to qualify to receive a $50.00 rebate check

1. Purchase a new toilet that bears the WaterSense® label—no exceptions. The new toilet must be replacing an existing toilet in a single-family residence. No new construction, please. Limit three per residence.

2. Include a copy of the receipt with a completed rebate application form. The form can be found at www.kpud.org. If the receipt doesn’t indicate the specific model of the toilet, provide other documentation, such as the WaterSense label or model number.

3. Send the application, receipt and the WaterSense® verification to: Kitsap PUD, P. O. box 1989, Poulsbo, WA 98370.

4.Receive a $50.00 rebate check in approximately 3-4 weeks.

Old toilets must be disposed of; they may not be resold or reused. Visit http://www.kitsapgov.com/sw/recycle.asp to learn about where to dispose of old toilets in Kitsap County.

Replace that old toilet to save to reduce your water consumption and your water bill.

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CK School District Field Trips Get New Volunteers

Have you visited the historic Red Barn on the Clear Creek Trail? It sits on the estuary in the middle of the Silverdale commercial district off Bucklin Hill Road. The downstairs is full of interesting information about the Clear Creek Trail and the Puget Sound. The upstairs, a former hayloft, houses artifacts from Silverdale's good old days - including school desks with holes for ink bottles! Last night the tiny loft was crammed with thirty potential volunteers for the Salmon in the Classroom field trips in March. Central Kitsap students are raising Chum salmon in their classrooms. The field trips are built around the release of the fingerlings into the Clear Creek system. Nearly a thousand students will go on the field trips; last night was a training and pep rally to get more volunteers! I think it was a success.

The field trips are broken up into four stations: tree planting, Salmon release, water quality testing and stream "bugs". (Guess who leads the bug station)

Tex Lewis, long time Clear Creek Trail organizer and tree planter extraordinaire, told the volunteers how to get the kids to plant trees without bludgeoning each other with shovels and strangling the plants. Tex is about six feet four and lives up to his name, wearing a ten gallon hat that sported a lively feather. He is witty and obviously dedicated to getting students out to the trail learning about the value of our environment and getting a few (thousand) trees in the ground. What would we do without Tex?

Sam Hoakem came next. Salmon in the Classroom was his brainchild enlisting his Kiwanis group to help. He talked about the salmon release. If you ever get an opportunity hear his salmon tales, do it. I certainly learned a lot.

Pat Kirschbaum from Kitsap SSWM program let the group learn about the water quality station by doing it. Everyone joined in by being a shaker, "piller", or water gatherer to test creek water for pH. Pat, by the way, schedules ALL of the teachers for their field trips. Yes, she herds cats. Pat is a gem of a resource. She does a mountain of outreach and education in the county and does it all as a part time employee. She deserves a medal.

I ended the evening by having everyone push their chairs to the side of the room. Some of the brave participants played a rousing game of Macroinvertebrate Mayhem. Yes, we had a running game in the loft of the red barn! The players became stream bugs, stonefly larvae, mayfly larvae and caddis fly larvae. Their goal was to get down the stream before they were caught by an environmental stresser. It is always fun to pose as a fourth grader!

At the end of the night we had volunteers sign up for the field trips. If you would like to join us, let me know.

Science Kits piloted in CK fourth grades

Science is alive and well in the CK school district. Last week 13 fourth grade teachers crammed into the CK Science kit center to work on the science kits that they are piloting in their classrooms. This kit, Kitsap Watershed Connections, teaches about water and the environment in the student's backyard. It is replacing a science kit that, while good, doesn't have the personal engagement with the students that this kit accomplishes. This district-wide kit is being provided to the School District by Kitsap PUD and Kitsap County Public Works. The lessons are written by CK science gurus Doug Dowell and Kim San Felipe, SSWM's Pat Kirschbaum, Jo Meints from Solid Waste and me, from Kitsap PUD.

These lessons helps teachers give their students the solid background in the scientific process that they will need while continuing their education at higher levels. Just as important, it gives teachers and their students an opportunity to learn that science is fun. The teachers are now using science as a springboard toward learning in other subjects like reading, math and writing.

The kit is a large one that teachers work on all year long. The science kit is delivered to them in three boxes: one in the fall, one after Christmas and one after Spring Break. Three workshops coincide with the delivery of the boxes. An introductory workshop in August introduced lessons from the first box. During last week's workshop, teachers critiqued the first lessons and were introduced to Box 2. Another workshop introducing box 3 will be held in the Spring. A final recap will happen in June to finalize the kit to get ready for wider distribution next year.

The new lessons introduced are about Salmon, Wetlands and Streams. Many teachers in CK School district are raising salmon in their classrooms so these lessons help to make that experience more meaningful for their students. I got to lead many of these lessons as I authored much of this portion of the kit. The teachers created salmon art and healthy stream collages. They played Macroinvertebrate Mayhem and created a Web of Life. They dissected owl pellets. and pulled mystery articles out of a bag that explained the importance of wetlands. They journeyed on a trail of wetland plants learning about the plants and teaching about those plants to the rest of the group. The day ended with building their own wetland models.

These teachers' talents of creative teaching are so inspiring. They enthusiastically embrace new activities to get their students out of their seats to learn in many different ways. Yes, science is happening in CK 4th grades which benefits our whole community now and into the future.

Washer Rebate Extended for 2011

Did you know that if you are a Kitsap PUD customer, you may receive a rebate check when purchasing a high efficiency washing machine? We are extending our $50 rebate for 2011. Kitsap PUD has mailed over $9,000 worth of checks to customers during the last five years. We do this to encourage customers to invest in efficient models when replacing their washers. These models generally use half of the water that older style washers use. Our customers have collectively saved over a million and a half gallons of water!

All you have to do is:

1. Purchase a qualifying efficient residential clothes washer.
2. Install the clothes washer in a residence served by Kitsap PUD.
3. Complete the application and mail it along with a copy of the sales receipt.

How do you know which washer to choose? When at the appliance store, many washers will be labeled "Energy Star". While this is great, it doesn't necessarily mean that the machine is water efficient. Our $50 rebate applies to machines that have a MEF (Modified Energy Factor) of 2.2 or above AND a WF (water factor) of 4.5 and below. Your appliance dealer should be able to look that up. You can also tell by the price. You will pay more for a highly efficient washer but the savings of energy, water and wear and and tear on clothing make up for it.

Go to www.kpud.org for a list of qualified washers. You will also find the rebate application there.

Don't forget to check on other rebates that are offered. While the Washington State Cash for Appliance Program is depleted of funds, PSE still rebates energy efficient washers. You can probably pick up that application form at the store.

Don't miss out on getting a rebate for saving water!

Prepare your Pipes for Freezing Weather

Thinking about Spring? Now that the Fa-la-la is over and the light is slowly returning, we want to be done with winter. However, it isn't done with us. Temperatures are dipping this week.
Make sure that you are prepared for freezing weather:

1. Learn how to shut off the water supply to your house. If you have a pipe break, you will really be happy to know where to go.
   
2. Insulate all exposed pipes including outside faucets. Don’t forget pipes in unheated outbuildings, garages and pump houses. Cozy pipes mean having water available when it thaws.
3. Disconnect all garden hoses. Shut off and drain any outdoor water features or irrigation systems. If you washed the car during the warmer weather, don't forget about the hose!
   
4. Keep temperatures in the house to at least 55 degrees F. It won't hurt to make a plan, just in case the power goes out . . .again.
   
5. In extended cold weather let an indoor faucet drip slightly. Select a faucet that is on an outside wall furthest from the water meter. Of course, do this prudently. A dripping faucet can raise your water bill.

Don't be caught again by a deep freeze.