Who Polluted the White River?
Through an interactive story, students learn how many of our rivers have become
polluted as a result of human population increase and changes in land usage. This
example demonstrates that as we each contribute to the problem, so must we also be a
part of the solution.
Objectives: Students will be able to:
 List the principal pollutants in our nation’s rivers
 Draw connections between individual actions and results at the community level
 Develop strategies for minimizing and counteracting environmental problems
Indicators addressed:
6.3.8 Explain that freshwater, limited in supply and uneven in distribution, is essential
for life and also for most industrial processes. Understand that this resource
can be depleted or polluted, making it unavailable or unsuitable for life.
6.3.16 Explain that human activities, such as reducing the amount of forest cover,
increasing the amount and variety of chemicals released into the atmosphere,
and farming intensively, have changed the capacity of the environment to
support some life forms.
Materials:
 Watershed model (see Making a Watershed Model)
 Black film canisters (one/student, available for free at film processing stores)
 Canister ingredients (safe for handling) – for dry ingredients fill canisters
halfway full; for wet ingredients fill canisters full
o Construction site: clay soil
o Trees: dry crumpled leaves
o Family picnic: assorted litter or multi-colored marshmallows
o Fisherman: broken spaghetti noodles
o Farmers: baking soda & green marshmallows
o Gardeners: baking soda & green marshmallows
o Barnyard: brown liquid (coffee or hot chocolate) & yellow marshmallows
o Homeowners: dilute yellow food coloring, raisins, toilet paper & yellow
marshmallows
o Coal mine: vinegar
o Electric plant: vinegar
o Commuters: vinegar & few drops of vegetable oil
o Washing the car: soapy water
o Antifreeze: dilute blue food coloring
o Motorboat: vegetable oil
o Beach party: assorted litter or multi-colored marshmallows
o Mystery liquid: dilute red food coloring
Procedure:
1. Prepare and label film canisters as stated above, using labels (attached).
2. Fill the watershed model with sufficient water
3. Each student gets a film canister. Ask them not to open or reveal the
characters/contents yet.
4. Explain that you will read a story about the river and that each of them plays a
part in the story. When they hear the name of their character in the story, they
should open their containers and empty the contents into the watershed.
5. Pause after reading the story’s questions to allow students time to respond.
6. At the end of the activity, discuss students’ thoughts, feelings, ideas, etc.
Who Polluted the White River?
For thousands of years, people have lived on the banks of the White River. They hunted
in the forests, harvested food from the wetlands, and caught fish in the river. They
used the river for irrigation for their crops and used it as a means of transportation.
They depended upon the river for their survival.
Question: Imagine that this watershed is the White River about 500 years ago.
Describe how it looks to you. If you were a Native American living there, would
you drink this water? Eat fish from it? Swim in it?
One of the first European explorers to visit the river kept a journal of his discoveries.
He wrote about the Native American villages, the tributaries of “sweet water”, and the
many fish that he and his crew tried to scoop out of the river.
Soon colonists began to arrive. They found fertile land for farming, forests teeming
with wildlife and wood, and a river that provided ample food and water. It was an
outstanding environment for settlement, and the colonists prospered.
How do you think the colonists used the river?
Do we use it the ways today?
The river has changed tremendously since it was first explored. This is the story of
those changes. Listen for the name of the character printed on your canister. When
you hear your character names, open the canister and dump its contents into the
watershed.
Years went by and occasional storms drenched the area. High winds whipped the trees
and blew leaves into the river.
Gradually, the city of Indianapolis grew on the banks of the White River. Developers
cleared wetlands and forests to build houses and businesses. Rains washed loose soil
from construction sites into the river.
Is this water safe to drink? (If “no”, ask is the river had leaves or soil in it when
explorers first drank from it).
Would you swim in it? Is it safe for wildlife?
At first, the city was small. Upstream, farmers planted crops to feed the city’s growing
population. Some of these crops grew right up against the banks of the river, and
fertilizers washed off the land and into the water. Other farmers raised pigs and cattle
and other animals in their barnyard. As farming became more modernized, farmers
gave their animals antibiotics and growth hormones, which also entered the water with
the manure. The creek flows into the river. As rainwater drained out of the barnyard, it
carried some of the manure into a little creek behind the farm.
Would you drink this water now? Would you swim in it? Go boating on it? Is it
safe for wildlife?
As the city grew, more people began to move to the nearby countryside. The rural
houses are not connected to the city sewer system. Waste water from these houses
flows into septic tanks under the ground. A few homeowners have not maintained
their septic tanks, and untreated sewage seeped into the river.
To meet the electricity needs of the city, area officials decided that they would need to
generate more power. Far upstream, a coal mine was dug. Rainwater drained down into
the mine shaft and soaked the piles of waste and scraps from mining. This made the
rainwater become acidic with the sulfur that is in the coal. Then the acidic water
trickled back out into the river.
To burn the coal in order to produce power, an electric power plant was built along the
river. Gases coming out of the smokestack combine with the moisture in the air to form
acids. The pollution falls back to the ground as acid rain.
Would you drink this water now? Would you swim in it? Go boating on it? Could
wildlife live in water that is so acidic?
Now, Indianapolis is a large metropolitan area. Traffic congestion is a big problem for
commuters who drive cars to get to and from places. Car exhaust fumes (similar to the
power plant fumes) cause acid rain. If a car is not kept in good condition, it might also
leak oil or other fluids which will be washed off the pavement and into the river with the
next rain.
And how do the residents of the city and its suburbs spend their time? In one
neighborhood, lots of gardeners are out working in the yards. Many of them use
insecticides and pesticides to maintain their gardens and keep their lawns looking nice.
The next rain will wash these toxins into the streams and river.
One father is teaching his daughter how to change the antifreeze in their vehicle. They
pour out the used antifreeze into the driveway. Antifreeze is sweet-tasting and can
poison animals that drink it. It may also get in the watershed and poison fish and other
wildlife. Down the street, a boy washes the family car. The soapy water rushed down
the driveway into the storm drain, which empties into the river. The grease and grime
on the car contains asphalt from the roads, asbestos from the brakes, rubber particles
from the tires, toxic metals and rust. If the boy had gone to a local car wash, the water
would have been treated before it returned to the river.
On another block, a man is cleaning out his garage. He finds a rusty old can with a
tattered skull and crossbones label on it. What could it be? It looks hazardous and he
wants to get rid of it before someone else gets into it. He decides to pour it down the
drain by the curb. The mysterious liquid is out of the garage, but headed straight for
the river.
On nice days, many people head down to the river for recreation. Some go out onto the
river in their motorboats, leaking engine oil into the water. On the shore, some friends
have spread out blankets for a beach party. Many families are picnicking too. Some
of these people have left trash on the shore. With the next storm or wind, the trash will
wash into the river. In a small cove, a person fishing snags a hook on a log, and breaks
off the fishing line.
Would you drink this water now? Would you swim in it? Go boating on it? Could
wildlife live in water that is so polluted?
Discussion questions (Answers):
Who polluted the White River?
(Everyone played a role.)
What affect did the increasing population have on the health of the river? (More
people meant fewer wetlands and forests which filter water and hold the soil in
place; more cars, less natural space, more toxins going into the water, etc.) Can
you think of any ways that population increases helped the river? (Higher
population densities lead to more efficient use of resources, stronger
environmental laws, public resources like sewage treatment plants, etc.)
Think about the pollution contained in your canister. Could something be done to
prevent that type of thing from entering the water? How? (Answers will vary.)
[Challenge students to come up with ways to clean up the water in the
watershed; after all, everything has to go somewhere! (Solids can be strained or
filtered, absorbent cotton can be used, etc.)] Once this type of pollution has
entered the river, how can we get it out? How can we clean up the river? It is
easier to prevent pollution or clean it up later? What can we do to prevent
pollution?
What could each of us do to help improve the health of our river? (Biking or
walking instead of driving; picking up litter, dispose of fluids properly, growing
or buying foods that been grown with pesticides, pull weeds in the yard instead
of spraying them, etc.)
Extensions/Suggestions:
 Use a container of water to represent the river instead of a watershed
model
 Have students write their own story about the watershed
 Students can research actual pollution events in their or other
watersheds
Assessment:
Working in groups, ask students to create a plan to clean up the river and
prevent future pollution. Who would be involved? How would they do it? What
kinds of resources would they need? How could they get more community
people involved? Grade with a rubric.
Acknowledgement: This activity was originally developed by Hard Bargain Farm Environmental
Center, Accokeek, MD and adapted from Population Education Training.