LESSON 3 Activity 1

Who Dirtied the Water?

Grades:

4th - 12th

Objective:

Students will learn about current sources of water pollution, how these sources bring about water quality issues, and ways that these sources of pollution are being controlled.

Method:

Students will actively participate in creating a visual representation of a body of water that receives pollution from various sources. Students will discuss the causes that underlie each type of pollution represented and how alternatives can be found to help reduce pollution.

Materials:

A copy of the "Who Dirtied the Water Story" (below), labeled film canisters filled with the various materials that represent different pollutants (refer to the Discussion chart), a large, clear glass or plastic container, a spoon, "pollution clean-up tools": sponge, paper towels, sieve, coffee filters, baking soda, pH paper.

Make sure each canister has a label that links it to a character in the story (see Discussion chart).

Time:

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Class Time: 30 minutes

Procedure:

  1. Preparation. Set up the container (half filled with water) where everyone can see.

  2. Ask students: What is an issue? Emphasize that an issue is a problem caused by differing opinions based on different values that result in different ways of doing things.

  3. Explain that this activity focuses on water quality issues, or water pollution issues.

  4. Randomly pass out film canisters containing materials that represent different forms of point and non-point source pollution. Ask students to notice which character they are representing.

  5. Show students the clear container (which now has a few inches of clean water in it), and tell them it represents a very clean lake. Ask if they would boat on the lake. How about swim in the lake? If water were treated first, would they drink it? Why or why not?

  6. Explain that you will be telling them a story about the lake, and as their character is mentioned, they should come up to the lake and pour the contents of their canister into the lake. Tell the story of the lake, introducing each character from the chart, one at a time. After each character pollutes the lake, ask the students if they would still boat, swim, or drink water from the lake. Why or why not?

  7. Discuss what happens to the organisms and plants living in the lake? At what point (after which pollutants) do they begin to become affected?

  8. Draw the chart on the board to help discuss what real life source of pollution each character represents. Is it a point or non-point source? What ways can each source be prevented or reduced?

  9. How would the pollution effects differ in a river?

  10. Who is responsible for cleaning up the lake? Give students "pollution clean-up tools" and see if they can get the water clean again. (Baking soda can be used to neutralize the vinegar, pH paper to test for neutralization).

NYS Learning Standards:

English
Standard 2 - Language for Literary Response and Expression: Listening and Reading
Standard 3 - Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation: Listening and Reading

Math, Science, and Technology
Standard 4 - Science: Physical Setting 2; The Living Environment 7
Standard 7 - Interdisciplinary Problem Solving: Connections; Strategies


Source: This activity adapted from Southern Rhode Island Conservation District's Active Watershed Education Curriculum Guide.







The "Who Dirtied The Water" Story


Note: After each paragraph, after a substance is added to the container of water, ask the following questions to the class:
Would you drink from the lake if it had a drinking water treatment plant?
Would you swim in the lake? Would you boat on the lake?

This is merely our version of this story. Feel free to modify it to fit your needs.


Once there was a large lake surrounded by green forests and brush land. It was a clear lake, and the only pollution the lake received was natural, from TREES. This was not a problem since the lake was not being used for drinking water.

In a little while, though, the 1st HOME OWNER moved in. They had a septic system, but did not use it wisely. The 1st home owner used toxic household cleaners and dumped them down the drain. They ended up in the lake after passing through the septic system.

Not too long after that, a 2nd HOME OWNER moved in, near the location of the first. They also had a septic system for their house. A few years went by and they did not keep their septic system maintained. The septic tank began to leak, and this also ended up in the lake.

At almost the same time, a 3rd HOME OWNER moved in next to the second one. The family had a large green lawn, which the homeowner was quite proud of. Unfortunately, they used too much fertilizer and watered too often. A lot of the fertilizer washed down and away from the grass roots and eventually also ended up in the lake.

Now that there was a small neighborhood around the lake, people began to visit its beach. There weren't very many BEACH GOERS, but they did not pick up after themselves. They left litter on the shores and some of the litter ended up in the water of the lake, too.

There was a lot of flat, stone-free land around the lake, and two farmers moved into the area. The 1st FARMER practiced poor erosion control on his cropland, and sediment from his fields made its way to the lake, clouding it up. The 2nd FARMER that moved in planted an apple orchard, and he used pesticides to keep insects from eating the apples. The farmer used too much of the pesticides, and they ended up in the soil. Eventually, they ended up in the lake, too.

As the area around the lake became more and more developed, a shopping mall was built near the neighborhood. The shopping mall had a large parking lot, and it was always filled with cars from all around the area. Precipitation that fell on the SHOPPING MALL LOT was carried off, containing oil and rust from the cars, litter, and salt used for melting ice. The stormwater drainage system was not well designed, and the stormwater runoff made its way to the lake.

Along a river that fed the lake, an industrial area built up. The first building was for the electric company. The ELECTRIC COMPANY burned coal to power its generators. The smoke that came from the smokestacks stayed in the clouds and formed acid rain, which fell onto the river and the lake.

The next two buildings contained a CHEMICAL PLANT and a SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT. The chemical plant discharged heavy metals and organic chemicals into the river. The sewage treatment plant discharged raw sewage into the river whenever the amount of sewage reaching the plant became too much to handle. Both types of pollution ended up in the lake.

The last thing to be built near our now-developed lake was a GAS STATION. To save on costs the gas station used low-quality underground tanks to store their gasoline. After a few years, the tanks began to leak. The gasoline flowed through the soil, reached the groundwater, and flowed to the lake.


How can we possibly clean this up?