DRINK WITH THE DINOSAURS
The last cool drink of water you enjoyed probably quenched the thirst of a thirsty dinosaur that lived millions of years ago. Dinosaurs were gigantic reptiles that are now extent. Climate changes and other natural disasters on the earth caused the dinosaurs to vanish. They probably enjoyed extending their long necks down to a stream or pond to get a cool drink of water or perhaps they simply used their long tongues to capture a drop of water from a plant leaf.
Since life began on the earth, water has sustained all living things on the earth. That’s right; the water you drink today has been around a long time. Water is the most important substance on the earth. When water arrives at your home it has made an incredible journey.
When you hear a clap of thunder and you see streaks of lightning dance across the sky it usually tells you it’s going to rain. Dark thick clouds form, the wind begin to blow and down come droplets if water. Millions and million drops of life sustaining raindrops fall from the sky to the earth. The ground acts like a sponge catching and absorbing each precious raindrop until it cannot hold any more. The water that cannot be absorbed by the ground runs off, flowing downhill to fill creeks, streams, reservoirs and rivers. The water that is absorbed into the ground makes its way to underground rivers called aquifers that are deep in the earth. The water you get from aquifers is called ground water. To get ground water, special pumps are used to bring it to the surface for you to drink and take a bath. Groundwater is the source for almost all of the water, used in your neighborhood. The water that ended up in creeks, streams, reservoirs and rivers is called surface water.
Both groundwater and the surface water, after being treated for germs and bacteria, are then pumped and stored in tanks and water towers for you to drink and enjoy. The water is piped underground from the tanks and water towers in sealed pipes to prevent rocks, dirt, and bugs from getting into your drinking water. When the water finally reaches your home faucet, you simply turn the knob and there instantly is cool refreshing water. The average person uses about 80 to 100 gallons of water per day. That’s a lot of water. The largest use of water is in the bathroom: to flush the toilet, and for showers.
Dinosaurs on the other hand drank surface water only. They had no way of getting the abundant water from underground. They had to search for water in hot dry seasons and freezing winters. There are places in the world where people have a hard time like the dinosaurs try to find water to drink. Many people in countries like Africa and Asia do not have ways to get good clean water. To ensure this doesn’t happen in your city, it’s important to conserve and protect the water you drink; by making sure faucets are turned off completely, and by not throwing waste in streams and lakes.
So, how is it that you are drinking the same water the dinosaurs drank? First, a unique dome called the atmosphere surrounds our planet. It shields the earth from what’s out in space as best it can and keeps the things on earth on the earth. Therefore, very few things on earth escape into outer space. The heat from the sun causes water to evaporate
and rise up into the atmosphere. The atmosphere is like the cover on a pan of boiling water on the stove in your kitchen. The cover prevents the steam from escaping. After you remove the cover on the pan after it cools down, you will notice drops of water on the underside of the cover that look like raindrops. Those water drops becomes heavy and they fall to the floor. Rain forms that way. If you quickly put the cover in your refrigerator freezer, you will see how snow and ice forms in the sky. No matter what water is used for, it always finds its way back to the sky and eventually returns to the ground as rain, snow, or ice to be used over and over again.
Most of the earth’s water is in the oceans. Only a small portion of the earth’s water is available for humans to drink. The last cool drink of water you enjoyed has been here a long time and has fallen to the ground many times in the form of rain, ice, and snow. Many forms of life on earth have shared those precious drops. Therefore, the next time you turn on a water faucet to get a drink of water or to spray a friend with the garden hose on a hot summer day, just remember the old dinosaur enjoyed the same refreshing water a long time ago.
