Develop Vocabulary
Ecology, Environmental Science, Government, Reading
Sixteen terms associated with water quality and treatment are defined for classroom use in “In the Know.” Select the terms your students need to know when reading texts. Be sure they can use them in their discussion of and writing about water-related issues.
Many acronyms are used to denote organizations, agencies, practices and approaches involved in water quality and safety. Review “More Than Letters” for some of these terms.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides an informational graphic and activity to introduce young students to the water treatment process. Teachers might use this interactive graphic to illustrate vocabulary. This is one of many resources provided by the EPA for elementary to adult education.
Make Connections
Biology, Ecology, Environmental Science, Reading
It is necessary for students to understand how communities deal with their water supply and pollution. Begin this lesson with questions such as the following:
• When you flush your toilet, where does the content go?
• How does our community deal with sewer water?
Teachers are provided the activity sheet “How We Clean Polluted Water.” Before giving the handout, teachers may wish to cover “disinfect,” “organic,” “inorganic solid,” “polluted or unclean water,” and other terms related to the water treatment process.
For an introduction to landfills, watch the Discovery video “Really Big Things: America’s Landfills." Teachers of older students may wish to refer to the EPA landfills website for government expectations.
Using the six steps, “How We Clean Polluted Water,” students can explore the processes used at the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant, the largest of its kind, to treat the polluted water of the D.C. region. Use this specific example to introduce the basic process. Teachers of younger students would find the Fairfax Water video, "The Full Treatment," helpful.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides an informational graphic and activity to introduce young students to the water treatment process. The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority provides an online graphic and summary of the treatment process that is more detailed.
In understanding how unclean water is processed, students may begin to understand why citizens may want to take greater care in preventing pollution in the first place. Students will use the steps in "How We Clean Polluted Water," the handout included in this guide, to follow water from when it arrives at the plant for treatment.
After this activity, students will be able to answer these questions:
• Where does water that goes down the drain go?
• What happens to water at Blue Plains and other water treatment facilities?
• What are microbes? Organic materials? How are microbes used in water treatment?
• How do water treatment centers handle plastic materials?
• Why does water coming from my kitchen faucet sometimes smell like chlorine?
Find the Order
Art, Biology, Environmental Science, Reading, Science
Before this sequencing activity is given, students need to understand the term “process” and have been given the introduction to the process of treating polluted water. This assignment may also be combined with “Making Connections” suggested activity in this curriculum guide.
“Steps in the Process” is a hands-on activity that provides information about water’s journey through a treatment facility. Students are to put the pieces in the correct order of moving from entry of polluted water in the plant through removal of inorganic pollutants and treatment of organic pollutants to release of clean water into the river. Students are to illustrate each step. The last step is to place the pieces in the correct order of treatment.
Older students could be asked to add more details about each step as well as to illustrate the steps and analyze the impact of water treatment on a community.
Use "How We Clean Polluted Water" in this curriculum guide for the correct order. This activity could be used as a quiz to determine students’ understanding of the water treatment process.
Research the Issues
Biology, Ecology, Environmental Science
Although people can live a few weeks without food, they can live only days without water. Discuss with students the importance of clean water. In what ways do we daily impact the quality of water in our homes, schools and offices?
We treat water to purify and make it useable for many purposes. This is not new. For thousands of years civilizations have been boiling, filtering and treating water to get clean drinking water.
Questions can lead to individual research projects. Here is a beginning:
• When you water your lawn or when rainwater runs off your yard into the street, how is water quality affected?
• What happens to river water that is near cattle, sheep and chicken ranches? When surface water runoff takes place?
• How are fish influenced by surface water runoff and other forms of pollution?
• Have students noticed garbage in the street during a rainstorm? It washes into the sewer and disappears. But does it really disappear?
• Plastics are placed in landfills? Is there a better answer to managing this waste?
• What methods are used to treat point and nonpoint source pollution?
• Lakes and reservoirs are a major water resource as well as a component of the food web. Why and how can lakeshores be protected
In addition to books and online resources, many local organizations have knowledgeable individuals who can be interviewed. Virginia students pursuing science projects can apply to work in the Fairfax Water water quality lab with a trained analyst.