Drinking water – Tap water or bottled water

LEAF Anthology

Human Cities: Triangle Triage

Using sustainability criteria and research data to consider water health.

Triangle Triage
Contributed By: The Keystone Center

In this lesson, students are asked to consider the sustainability of a common, everyday practice (choosing the source of their drinking water). They will use sustainability criteria and research data to work collaboratively in evaluating the truth about the two drinking water options. By doing so, they will learn that calling something sustainable is not just a guess, but is based on a model that results in conclusive and measurable results. Often, weighing the consequences of a particular decision involves judgment calls about the relative value of different potential outcomes, and is not purely a matter of measurable outcomes. This lesson, however, gives students a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of everyday choices using quantitative methods.