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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 361 170 SE 053 506 TITLE Project Water Science. General Science High School Level. INSTITUTION Water Education Foundation, Sacramento, CA. SPONS AGENCY California; California State Dept. of Water Resources, Sacramento. Office of Water Conservation. PUB DATE 91 NOTE 56p.; Accompanying materials include the Water Education Foundation's "Layperson's Guide to Drinking Water," a sliding chart of water facts, and a California Water Map. The sliding chart and California Water Map are not reproducible. AVAILABLE FROM Water Education Foundation, 717 K Street, Suite 517, Sacramento, CA 95814. PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. DFSCRIPTORS Conservation (Environment); *Ecology; *Environmental Education; High Schools; Poisons; Science Activities; Science Education; *Science Experiments; Science Projects; Secondary School Science; *Water Quality; *Water Resources; Water Treatment IDENTIFIERS *California; *Hands On Experience; Hands on Science; Precipitation ABSTRACT This teacher's guide presents 12 hands-on laboratory activities for high school science classes that cover the environmental issue of water resources in California. The activities are separated into three sections. Five activities in the section on water quality address the topics of groundwater, water hardness, bottled water, water purity, and water purification. Four activities in the section on water and the environment address the topics of water clarity; rainfall, geography, and vegetation patterns in California; toxins in water; and water ecosystems. Three activities in the section on water and people address the topics of water distribution, water conservation, and water treatment. The guide contains a glossary of 34 terms. The attached "Layperson's Guide to Drinking Water" explains some of the major concerns and controversial issues about today's drinking water and the kind of decisions that need to be made. It also contains a sliding chart of water facts, and a California Water Map. (MDH) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Ic *********************************************************************** PROJECT 0 WATER SCIENCE General Science High School Level If' !4, U DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OfIce o "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS Educahonal Research end Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Valerie Holcomb Whoa dOcument has been te/OrOduCed us triciyiki from Int prOn Or organization ongunahng it I ; I o Minor changes have been made lo IrtiprOve reproduction Quality I; II ; I I PoinIs 01 view Or opinions slatO II in this clOCu- ment do nOt neCeStardy officiM TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES OERI pOsilson Or policy INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) BEST COPY AVAILABLE Project Water Science Secondary Environmental Science Teacher's Introduction Project Water Science is intended for use in earth and physical science classes. It gives secondary science teachers a series of hands-on exercises organized to cover one of the most important issues of our timeswater, and its importance to our environment and our lives. Consistent with the new Science Framework, this material is organized thematically and cuts across all areas of science. These labs ca a be used as a unit or integrated into an existing water unit. Ail student pages may be photocopied. Teacher's information for each of the three sections appears on the blue pages. Project Water &lanais divided inW three sections Water Quality, Water and the Environment, and Water and People. Materials accompanying Project Water Science California Water Map Layperson' s Guide to Drinking Water Water Trivia Facts Card Water Education Foundation brochure and order form Evaluation form Optional VideoWaterquest Teacher and Student guides are published by the Water Education Foundation. The guides were jointly funded by the Foundation, the California Department of Water Resources and the California Department of Education, Environmental/ Energy Education Grant Program. Additional educational materials are available from the Water Education Foundation, 717 K Street, Suite 517, Sacramento, CA 94814, 916-444-6240 A Look Inside page Water Quality 4 Teacher's Information. Labs 1-5 6 How Low Can You Go'? Lab I Groundwater and Porosity 7 To Suds or Not To Suds Lab 2 Water Hardness How Does It Taste? 8 Lab 3 Is Bottled Better? Pure As The Driven Snow'' 10 Lab 4 Parts per Million or Billion Water Quality in Drinking Water .12 Water. Water Everywhere But Not A Drop To Drink Lab 5 . How to Build a Solar Water Purifier Water and the Environment / 2 Teacher's Information. Labs 6-9 13 Editor Rita Schmidt Sudman Surveyine a Watery Biome 17 Lab 6 Writer Water Temperature Judith Wheadey Water Clarity Editorial Assistance Nlerle Fraser It Never Rains in Sunny Californa Lab 7 1 Valerie Holcomb Rainfall, Geography, and Vegetation patterns Photos 14 This Game May be Hazardous to Your Health L.S. Bureau of Reclamation Lab 8 Rita Schmidt Sudman Accumulation of Toxins in the Foodweb Design 5 It's a Small World After All Lab 9 Rebecca Sobine A Water Mini-Ecosystem ii- Water and People Teacher's Information. Labs 10-12 Lab 10 Where Does All the Water Go'? Distribution in California 31 I Can Make a Difference! Lab 11 The mission of the Water Education Water Conservation Foundation, an unbiased. nonprofit .4targik. ."I Can See Clearly Now- 33 Lab 12 The Mud Mystery. . organization. is to develop and irnple- A Water Treatment Inquiry ment education programs leading to a broader understanding of water issues 14 and to resolution of water problems. Glossary 4 Water Quality SECTION Teacher's Information Labs 1-5 Ii Extension Activities filling the crevices. Using a LAB 1 See if students can design an- straw to simulate a well, HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? other lab to test hardness. This siphon out water (or use Grow:limier and Porosity could be washing an oily rag in aspirator) and note the water different types of water. Also level on the side of glass Obisc Dye suggest one group use detergent bowl, jar or fish tank with a Students will become aware of for the initial experiment. Dis- grease pencil. A cone of some of the pressing issues cuss how water softeners work. depression should be formed involving contamination of our Show the build up of scale in a if particles are small enough limited surface and groundwater tea kettle or hot water pipe. and extraction is large supplies. Invite a local plumber in to talk enough. about scale and water softeners. Demonstration materials needed Extension Activity 1. large glass bowl, jar or Suggest that some of the groups LAB 3 fish tank change the proportion of sand HOW DOES IT TASTE? 2. glass beads, fish tank Is Bottled Better? to gravel to soil. Discuss rocks or sand how the pore size may 3. food coloring Objective change with the mixture. Students will recog- Ask what would happen if Lab Hints nize taste as a criterion the gravel was angular as Use pea-size of water quality opposed to round. gravel, fine sand, and soil typical in &MN your area. Have students read LAB 2 pp. 12-13 in TO SUDS OH NOT TO SUDS Activity Layperson's Guide to Water Hardness 1. Introduce this learning unit Water. Drinking with the Reading and by These pages may Objective referring to recent news be photocopied. Students will evaluate the hard- articles regarding water ness of tap water and recognize quality problems. Ask the Lab Hints hardness as an important factor students if they are aware of Collect water from various in water quality. any pressing local water sources (tap, distilled, bottled quality issues. spring, carbonated, etc.) and put Lab Hints into plain bottles labeled with a Small jars like baby food bottles 2. Hand out photocopies of the number. Have unsalted soda may be used if test tubes are not Layperson' s Guide to Drink- crackers available to eat be- available. Use liquid soap, not Water p. 2. Promote ing tween samples to remove tastes detergent. For the discussion about the issues. from mouth. mystery sample, add a handful of Epsom 3. Using a glass bowl, a large Extension Activity salts to a liter of jar or fish tank, simulate a Have students test water tap water. ground water basin by adding samples for hardness. Re- Epsom salts sand, or gravel and fish tank late mineral content to taste. contain mag- rocks or another medium like nesium, and glass beads. By adding a wiP mrle the measured amount of water, sample a students can observe re- good example charge. withd:awal and water of hard water. Water Education Foundation Ppoject Water Science 4 lab Hints of testing pH, like litmus paper, tAB 4 Students can bring in may be substituted. PURE AS THE OWEN SNOW? their own buckets or Water Quality in Drinidng Water coffee cans and build Extension Activity individual stills or Have students allow Objective work in groups. water samples in part Student will Use plastic or glass A to evaporate to see measure two containers if beakers are if food coloring resi- indicators of unavailable. Use light due reappears. Have a water quality, colored or clear weight local water district pH and chlorine on the plastic wrap. official come talk to level, and be able (Dark weight will absorb heat the class about local to identify their and can bum through wrap.) water treatment pro- importance in cesses. Ask about the evaluating Extension Activities local THM levels. drinking water. Have some of the group put Possible research other materials beside salt in project: What are the Reading their water (e.g. food coloring, newest advancements in water Have students read pp. 8-11 in lemon juice, sugar, etc.) treatment? Layperson' s Guide to Drinking Water. These pages may be Use Trivia Game to discuss the photocopied. amount of fresh and salt water in the world. LAB 5 Lab Hints Part A: Remind students that IVAIBI, WATER EVERYWHERE, Assign a research project on the food coloring is already diluted BUT Mil A DROP TO DRIM(..." Yuma. Arizona desalination How to Build a Solar Water at 1 part coloring to 10 parts Purer plant or the Santa Barbara water. Put white paper under desalination plant. clear containers so students can observe the color changes. If Objective Contact a branch of the U.S. Students will build a water you don't have enough clear Navy and ask how large ships, purifier using the principles of containers, white plastic egg such as aircraft carriers provide the hydrologic cycle. Students cartons may be used. enough fresh water for their will recognize the finite nature crews. of water as a resource. Part B: Use the same water samples as in Lab 43, How Does Discuss other saline water Pre-Lab activity It Taste? This will give the problems: salt water intrusion Review the hydrologic cycle students opportunity to discuss in coastal areas, agricultural with the students. Boil water, the relationship of water quality drainage problems like those at condense steam on a cold plastic to taste. Use any pool or spa Kesterson Reservoir, Colorado cup. Using a lamp, melt an ice test kit that contains OTO, River water and agricultural cube, and then allow the water orthotolidine, for testing chlo- drainage. to evaporate. rine, and phenol red for testing pH. You may want to review the concepts of pH, acidity, and alkalinity with the class. If you have limited pool test kits, you can have half the class work on part A, while the other haif works on part B. Other methods 5 Project Water Science Water Education How Low Can You Go? Groundwater and Porosity 1 introduction Hypothesis Water falling on the ground either runs off the surface, or soaks into the ground. The amount of water that can be absorbed into 0 the ground, and how far Data I Results down it travels, is I. Which medium absorbed the dependent On the size most water? sand and shape of the ml particles. The w ater gravel molecules move into ml the spaces. or pores. solid between the particles. nil mixture ml Question Which kind of medium can hold '. Which medium absorbel the least water? the most water? Materials sand gravel garden soil 3. What does this mean about the pore space in each container? 4 glass or clear plastic containers/group graduated cylinder water , Procedure Fill the containers with ,,and. gravel, garden soil, and an equal mixture of these three substances. Shake the containers to distribute the con- tents. Label each one. 4. In a rainstorm. which medium would have the heaviest runoff? 2. Add water from a graduated cylinder to each container. Pour slowly. Measure how much water each container will hold before overflowing. 3. Record your results in the Conclusion 1, table. dater Education Foundation Project Water Science To Suds OP Not To Suds L A B Water Hardness 2 Introduction Hypothesis ne of the characteristics 01 water quality is its hardness. which refers to the amount of minerals dissolved in it. These minerals include calcium and magnesium. Hard Data Results water has many dissolved min- Is your tap water hard or erals. which interfere with its distilled water ; soft? drops usefulness in washing. The minerals react with soap to form tap water ! drops scum instead of suds. These minerals can also form a deposit bottled sprim: drops ater called scale inside boilers and 2. Which was the hardest hot-water pipes. salt water drops water? Question mystery water sample i drops How hard is our tap water? Which was the softest? Materia's test tubes soap solution (not detergent ) glass markers or crayons water solutions: distilled. 3. Was there any cloudiness in any of the water samples after : tap, bottled spring, salt What do you think this is? adding soap? ! mystery water sample Procedure Pour 5 ml. of distilled water . into a test wbe. Add 1 drop of liquid soap solution, cover tube with thumb. and shake. Continue adding drops of soap solution until ou have 4. Which would he better for washing_ clothes. distilled lasting suds. Shake vigor- Why? water or salt water? ously atter each drop. 'se this as a control. 2. Repeat procedure with other se a clean. water samples. I. labelled test tube for each sample. Record the number ot drops ol soap solution Conclusion necessary to produce lastini2 suds. Project Water Science 7 Water Education Foundation How Does It Taste? Is Bottled Better? But just as tap waters vary from Testing the Waters Introduction Is bottled water necessarily region to region. so do bottled The bottled water industry is "better"? From a taste perspec- waters vary, both in type and booming, but is bottled quality. In California. water tive alone. there are those who water really "better" than would argue this point, espe- sold as "mineral water" laust tap water'? cially if the waters in question contain more than 500 milligrams per liter of dissolved arc all placed on equal foot- According to the industry. ingchilled and tasted in a mineralsfar more than more than $2 billion in "blind" test under controlled most tap waters. bottled water was sold in the' conditions. United States in 1989. double Of course. any water that of five years before. A news segment on Los Ange- except distilled California leads all other is technically a "min- les television station KNXT states in bottled water con- eral" water. Since featured a blind taste compari- sumption and accounts for water is a solvent, son of bottled water and the tap almost half of the bottled w-ter the Los Angeles Depart- it naturally picks water consumed in the nation. meta of Water and Power serves up an assortment One out of three California of minerals and its customers in Hollywood. homes uses bottled water The tasters rated the tap water other substances on its trip double the national average. among the best, according to the 'Lliiough the hyirologic cycle. (The substances found in water newscast. Do Californians drink bottled are measured in milligrams per water for safety or taste'? The Another taste test, this one liter or in parts per million. reasons behind this boom are conducted for the San equivalent terms. One milli- hard to pin down or quantify. Francisco Chronicle by a gram per liter is equal to Some consumers buy bottled panel of food and water one milligram of the water because they believe its quality experts, rated Bay substance dissolved in taste is superior to tap water's. Area water samples. In a liter of water.) addition to the tap waters "Sparkling water" is The expensive, imported brands, tested was an expensive carbonated, either too. have a definite "snob ap- bottled water from France peal"particularly when served naturally or artifi- which finished at the bottom, cially, with dis- up with a twist of lime. In this, behind the tap waters. Across solved carbon the era of physical fitness and the continent. Consumers Union dioxide gas, while well-being, there is also an a stacked 23 sparkling waters. 14 "still water" (tap allure to the "natural- still bottled waters and one tap water and many waters sold as ness" touted by some water against each other. Ac- drinking water) comes minus brands. The safety of tap cording to these experts, the the bubbles. water is a concern. as best tasting water was New more refined analytical York City tap water. If the label reads "drinking techniques make it water," chances are it is tap or possible to detect smaller well water which may have and smaller amounts of undergone additional filtering or various contaminants processing prior to bottling. By with little conclusive law, "spring water" must come evidence of their long-term from a spring (unless the health effects. "spring" is just in the com- pany's name): it may or may not have had extra processing. Water Education Foundation Project Water Science 8 Although it has not been proven Bottled Water Test: Hard vs Health and Safety conclusively, some health ex- What about the health and Sott Water pens believe harder water is Overall, most of the bottled safety questions'? better for cardiovascular (heart) waters contain lower levels "If everything's working health than soft. One specula- of dissolved minerals. properly, tap water and tion offered is that hard water Minerals, though. help bottled water should he has some sort of "protective" make water palatable. equally safe," says Dr. quality that helps prevent and some water bottlers Jack Sheneman of the cardiovascular disease. remove and then add California Department of back minerals to their Health Services' Food and product to improve its Drug Branch. the division Questions I. What kind of water do people taste. Distilled water, which oversees the bottled in your class prefer? which contains no dis- ". water industry. solved minerals. is flat- tasting and not at all To make sure things keep refreshing. on "working properly." 2. What was the least popular purveyors of tap water and water'? State reasOns. Two minerals, magnesium and of bottled water both arc re- calcium, contribute to a water's quired to meet quality regula- "hardness." Many of the bottled tions set by federal and state drinking waters in the various governments and must regularly tests were considered "soft" (the report chemical, physical and point separating harder from microbiological test results to softer is son" 'where in the the state. neighborhoc..! of 70 milligrams Underground contamination per liter of hardness). while some of the state's tap waters such as by improperly used, particularly those in southern stored or disposed of chemi- Calitbrniaare on the hard calscould as likely affect bottled waters drawn from side. springs or wells as public supplies. The additional processing some bottled waters undergo. howevei, could remove some of Water Sample Hating these substances. Class Average Your Rating Score Sample Rating Score I 1 3 -I- 5 J 9 Project Water Science Water Education Foundation