Until Tuesday, John Rhoden never thought about how much water he used around the house. But the Norland Elementary third-grader learned some startling facts during a tour of the Alexander Orr Water Treatment plant in Kendall. He found out he used about 180 gallons of water every day and that the plant produced enough water in an hour to fill up Joe Robbie Stadium. And he learned the supply of water isn't infinite.

"I'm using up water and I don't even give thanks," said John, 9. "And my mom and dad have to pay for what I do. I'm going to try and use less water now."

That's exactly what the folks from Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Authority want to hear. This week, WASA is opening the Orr plant at 6800 SW 87th Ave. to more than 1,000 Dade school kids. The tours, in honor of National Water Week, are designed to show youngsters where drinking water comes from and teach those ways to save it. WASA got donations from public and private groups to help pay for the tours.

"We want to show them things that will make sense," said Tom Segars, a water production superintendent for WASA. "We want them to see how we can protect our water quality." The 93 kids from Norland, 19340 NW Eighth Ct., split into three groups and were taken around the plant. They saw how drinking water is treated and stored. At the end, each student was given a package that contained water-saving tips, book covers with water facts and a coloring book.

"Sometimes, adults can get complacent about water," Segars said. "If we can make an impression on kids that can help us all in the future."

The Norland kids have been learning about environmental issues as part of a program called Enviro-Cops, sponsored by the ARISE foundation. John's teacher, Theresa Newton, said the tour was a natural follow-up to what the kids have been studying.

"We want to encourage them to do whatever they can to help save the planet," Newton said.

Segars said having groups of kids wandering around the plant for a week also benefited workers there, many of whom took time to give tours.

"It really humanizes things for us, too," he said. "These plants operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This helps us all remember that there are people out there with glasses under the faucet."

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