Water Project
(Original in Japanese)

Ryuji Aoki
(Age 10, Japan <Living in USA>)
Chicago Futabakai Japanese School

There are many problems in the world, and the most important one is water. It will be a big problem if all the water is gone. All living things need water. Recently, I learned on the news that water is polluted, and I thought that we would face serious trouble if the pollution got worse.

I made some researches about water on the Internet. I found out that 97% of water on the Earth is seawater, and only 3% is freshwater. In addition, the amount of water people can use is less than 1%. That means people in the world have to share that 1%.

I made some more researches to find out that people in Tokyo use as much as 242 liters of water a day per person. 28% of that is used to flush toilets, 24% for bathwater, 23% in the kitchen, and 17% for washing. In developing countries, children have to fetch water a long way and there are many children who cannot go to school. I also found out that if we keep on using 242 liters of water a day, we will suffer water shortages in 2025 and water will be even more polluted by then.

What I am going to tell you now is a way to solve all of the water problems. First, we go to the bathroom to pee and poop, and use water to flush the toilet. Instead of using water, my idea is to use wind. We can use very strong wind to blow it away, and then add various things to it to make soil and fertilizer. This way, we don’t have to waste water and it’s easy.

Another idea is a new washing machine. This machine does not use a lot of water. It looks like an ordinary washing machine. It has a hole where you put your clothes. The hole is bumpy inside with large bumps, and many small bumps made of sponge are on them like shark teeth. Hot mist jets out of the sponge. The machine rotates so fast that it finishes quickly and uses only a small amount of water. This way, we can reduce the amount of water we use by about half, and make it available for people in countries that have no piped water. We will put water pipes to as many houses as possible, so that children will not have to go far to fetch water. Then, they can go to school and get smart and be able to have many dreams when they grow up.