lthompson's blog

Safely Dispose Unwanted Medications During Drug Take Back Event

Water quality starts at the source which is why Loudoun Water and water utilities around the nation encourage the properly dispose of medications and household chemicals instead of flushing them down the toilet. Flushing medications can sometimes lead to problems like water pollution as most medications are not completely removed by the wastewater treatment process or septic systems.

Calculate Your Holiday Water Footprint

When it is open to the public, one of the stations in our exhibit, The Aquiary, looks at how much water is used to grow and produce the things we eat and use every day. Visitors are often surprised at the number of gallons needed for the things around us. Factories that manufacture disposable products like paper, plastic, fabric and metal all rely on water to produce their products and clean them. Understanding how much water is needed for these things can help us to understand how we use and reuse things.

Preparing Pipes for Winter

Now is the perfect time of year, while the weather is still mild, to take the steps needed to prevent frozen water meters and frozen pipes.

No one wants to come home to frozen pipes, which can be costly to fix. Check the tips below to help keep your pipes safe this winter. These tips are especially important for those who have experienced frozen pipes or meters in the past.

Faucets - During very cold weather, keep a trickle of water running from faucets connected to pipes in unheated spaces. This includes any faucets located on the perimeter of your home.

Water Cycle in a Bag Activity

Need a fun lesson for the kids while they’re home? This is an easy one that doesn’t require many materials. Water cycle in a bag! This activity is also posted on our Instagram stories.

This is a great way to talk about how water turns into a gas through a process called evaporation. In nature, evaporated water goes into the atmosphere, but in our bag, it has no where to go so it will stick to the sides, turning back into a liquid as condensation. The condensation will then slide back into a pool of water as “rain.”