Tapestry of Faith: Gather the Spirit: A Multigenerational Program about Stewardship

Alternate Activity 2: The Costs of Water Fun

Activity time: 10 minutes

Preparation for Activity

  • Find out about water theme parks in your area; use the Theme Park City website. If possible, find out how much water they use. Ski resorts that make their own snow also use large amounts of water, sometimes drawing from local freshwater resources that communities need.

Description of Activity

Invite participants to think about water theme parks, which use large quantities of water for entertainment. Say, in your own words:

In some parts of the world, children are dying because they don't have enough water to drink. In other parts of the world, people have plenty to drink, and can go to lakes and rivers and streams to play. Some places even have a water theme park such as (name of local water theme park) where children can spend all day having fun with water and have plenty to drink, too. Is this fair? If it's not, what can we do about it?

Talk about water recreation resources in your area. Which ones are natural, and which are made by people? Tell the group about water theme parks in your area and, if you know, how much water they use.

Point out that you cannot simply take the clean water out of rivers near you and send it to dry countries far away. If all America 's water theme parks closed, the water would not go to save lives on other continents.

Suggest that we who have enough water to use some for water theme parks can express our gratitude as generosity, and help in some other way. Maybe theme parks can help, too. Invite some volunteers to check with theme parks near you and report back to the group. How do the theme parks try to conserve water? Do they recycle water so they don't waste a lot? Do they try to educate people about water?

To continue the discussion, use questions like these:

  • Should water theme parks volunteer to help with water stewardship?
  • Should they pay taxes so the government can help?
  • Should park visitors pay taxes to help? What could the tax money be used for?

Be ready to lead the group to make an action plan.