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A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio
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Page 1: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES

Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it

Matters.

Margaret Busker-PostlethwaitBuchtel High School Akron, Ohio

Page 2: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Overview

Background – Distribution Systems and Drinking Water Quality

Review of Akron, OH Drinking Water

SystemStudent Activities-Demonstrations Resources

Page 3: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Background Information

Drinking water in cities mainly comes from a reservoir or aquifer.

Surface water-biological pollutantsGround water-possible leachates

Page 4: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

What’s so special about this Unit?

• Most focus on watershed, which is important, but does NOT possess final characteristics of the water we drink

• Water Treatment Plant primary function – reduce organics in water, reduce turbidity, and add disinfectant at plant

• For drinking water, critical items-regulations are human health issues (heavy metals and disinfection byproducts) – how does the distribution system impact water quality?

• Students care about the water they actually drink

• Many “problems” (science and social) with drinking water to investigate and use to drive learning

Unfortunately there are very few experiments or demonstrations examining the relationship between drinking water quality and the distribution system. . . . . . . . . until now . . . . .

Page 5: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

According to USGS:

In the United States, more than 250 million people depend on the fresh water in our rivers, lakes, streams, and groundwater supplies for their drinking water.

Page 6: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Water Sources

Page 7: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Water: From Reservoir to Tap

Watershed (Cuyahoga)

Reservoir (Lake Rockwell)

Treatment Plant (city of Akron)

Water Distribution System

Homes

Page 8: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Distribution Systems 101

1 2 3 4 5

0

0.5

1

1.5

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Chlorine vs. DBP

There are general relationships between:

1. distance from water plant and water age

2. water age and chlorine residual3. water age and DBPsChlorine

residual measurement of tap water gives us a lot of information!

Page 9: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Akron City Water

Water comes from a reservoir called Lake Rockwell.

Lake Rockwell is fed by the Cuyahoga River which comes from Lake Erie.

The Cuyahoga River begins and ends in Lake Erie.

Akron’s Wastewater Treatment plant also uses the Cuyahoga River for it’s discharge.

Page 10: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Water supply schematic This is from the State’s EPA site. The information in the TMDL (total maximum daily load) reports can be very useful. In this schematic students can see that their drinking water reservoir also is linked to other community’s waste water systems further up stream. A good way to create discussion about our impact on other watersheds.

http://www.epa.ohio.gov/portals/35/tmdl/MidCuyFinalTMDL.pdf

Page 11: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Distribution System Basics

Distribution System consists of:• Pumps that deliver water from the water

plant to storage tanks in the city• Pipes that deliver water from storage

tanks to homes and businessesDistribution System provides:• Water to meet demands (quantity and

pressure) of homes and businesses• Water quality that meets Federal

regulationsBe careful – some cities use booster chlorination! Booster chlorination is addition of chlorine at another point in system (in addition to the water plant). It is not very common.

Page 12: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.
Page 13: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Drinking Water Quality 101

• Disinfect with chlorine (added at water plant) to prevent biological contamination-waterborne diseases

• Chlorine decays (i.e. goes away) in the distribution system

• Chlorine reacts with dissolved organic matter (from natural sources) to form disinfection byproducts (DBPs)

• DBPs are known carcinogens and regulated in the drinking water system

DBPs much, much lower if a groundwater source!

Page 14: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

The Unit

Pre-assessmentGuskey Cycle (teach, re-teach, enrichment)CSR- Collaborative Strategic ReadingNotes on Water (reading road map)Guided readingWater testingAssessmentEnrichment

Page 15: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Unit Procedures:

Day Activity Teacher Student Notes

Day 1 Pre test Hand out test Take test Discuss

Day 1 Introduction

Students read “What is in Drinking water” and complete CSR

Introduce and lead

Read and complete CSR

Possibly have lower ability readers pair up with another student

Discussion Facilitate Share CSR’s

Vocabulary Watershed, pathogen, DBP’s, water quality, disinfection, treatment, ground water, surface water, pollutants

Write Vocabulary on board

Students copy vocab and define

Remind that vocab is a running challenge.

Explain protocols for bringing in water samples for next class

Sample must be fresh and in a “clean” container

Get water samples from home

Focus on WWTP’s going into lake Rockwell- thus need for disinfection?

Page 16: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Day 3-6 LABStudents are split into 3 stations

Station ONEGuided investigation of water quality reports / water tests

Print out quality reports with focus on DBP’s from disinfection, watershed maps, toxicology/fact sheets on DBP’s

Students read through packets and answer questions as a group

Questions are modeled afterBloom’s Taxonomy

Station TWOTest Water

Students bring up samples and we test in small groups.

Students continue to work on sheets and record their Cl data.

Station THREEWork station

Students may either work on their Testing results and lab or guided reading or vocabulary

Page 17: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Day 5 Revisit pre assessment

Facilitate In groups students discuss the pre ass.

Reflection and wrap up

Students complete the BIG WATER PICTURE

Students write

Chance to catch up with other students

Day 6 Wrap up and ASS. Facilitate Students share their group results from lab/investigation activity

Assessment Monitor Take assessment

Grade overnight

Day 7 Re-teach and enrichment

Re-teach: Activities from the bookEnrichment: Test school water and make a PSA for school?

Page 18: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Keys to success

Know your students- this was NOT the first lab I did- I got them excited about it in September and we did it later.

Do guided reading activities with them prior to this so that they know how to read and answer questions.

Be flexible Invite guest speakers in- I had

rangers from Akron Water Pollution Division, Akron’s Waste Water Treatment Plant, Enviroscience, and Soil and Water Conservation District.

Let them know how expensive and cool the test equipment is!

Give them a period of 2-3 days to bring in water samples (you can’t test them all in one class period anyway)

GUSKEY CYCLE Pre-test Teach Assess (80% is

mastery) Enrichment/re-teach Re-test

Page 19: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Activities

Testing group Testing their water

sample with instructor Plotting their results

on city map Drawing conclusions

about levels of chlorine vs. DBP’s and age of water

Answering conclusion questions

Reading group Reading water quality

reports Answering questions

which are based on Bloom’s taxonomy

Interpreting data

Page 20: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

What it looks like

Students testing their water sample and completing their guided reading using the Akron Water Treatment Brochure .

sample work

Page 21: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Water Testing-Indy Style

Indianapolis receives its water from the Geist Reservoir which is fed from the Fall Creek.

Chlorine is added at the treatment plant and is not typically “boosted”

Page 22: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Activities

Testing group Testing their water

sample with instructor Plotting their results

on city map Drawing conclusions

about levels of chlorine vs. DBP’s and age of water

Answering conclusion questions

Reading group Reading water quality

reports Answering questions

which are based on Bloom’s taxonomy

Interpreting data

Page 23: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Indianapolis

The Geist Reservoir is the main source for Indianapolis

This information is available on line in almost every city through the local public works.

Page 24: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Water will be coming in from reservoir entering city from the north. Water is pumped throughout the grid system.

Page 25: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Indianapolis Drinking Water

The amount of chlorine (as sodium hypochlorite, or bleach) that is added at the plant will depend on many factors, including the flow through the plant and the temperature of the water. Citizens initially measures chlorine at the treatment plants, then again throughout the distribution system to ensure that sufficient chlorine remains in the water at the “ends” of the system. There are a couple of locations where additional chlorine can be added (again as bleach), but in general, we try to manage chlorine levels by ensuring that the water is used by customers.

Ann McIverCitizens Water Group

Page 26: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Indianapolis Documents

http://www.citizenswater.com/WaterQuality/TreatingDrinkingWater.aspx

Mapquest

Page 27: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Data Collection

Locate the water sample location on the map of the city.

Write your data on a “sticky” and place it on the location.

Page 28: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Data Analysis

Which samples had higher Chlorine levels?Which samples had lower Chlorine levels?What can we infer about DBP’s and Distance

from Water treatment plant?

Page 29: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Conclusions

Is chlorination harmful or helpful?What about ground water?Because chlorination is used kill bacteria,

what can we do in order to decrease the need for chlorination?

Other thoughts?Can this be used in any classroom?

Page 30: A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES Drinking Water? Convincing Kids that it Matters. Margaret Busker-Postlethwait Buchtel High School Akron, Ohio.

Resources

HACH (www.Hach.com): ~$400 for pocket colorimeter (chlorine only) and ~$700 for Model DR/820 (20+ water quality measurements), and~$0.20

per sampleYour City website (look under Utilities)CCR (Consumer Confidence Reports) – all citieshave them, a standard report on water quality for regulated parametersGoogle Maps (City)OhioEPA (www.OhioEPA.gov)Public drinking water systems informationWatersheds-water quality


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