A NEIGHBORHOOD SCALE ASSESSMENT OF INDUSTRIAL SOURCES OF STORMWATER POLLUTION
TO COMPTON CREEK WATERSHED
2015 Teaching Syllabus* for Jefferson High School, Los Angeles, CA
Week
1
Date
21-Jan
Topics
Student Learning Objectives
Activities
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Introduction to project
Los Angeles climate – rainfall
and temperature
Compton Creek overview
The hydrologic cycle
The water balance equation
Watersheds (+ preview of
urban watersheds)
Activity: delineating watersheds

Understand the purpose, schedule and work
required for the project
Understand basics about Los Angeles’s
climate / rainfall
Know where Compton Creek is and
understand the problems
Understand the concept of a watershed and
delineate the area draining to a creek based
on elevation and storm drains
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Review of hydrologic cycle
Urban hydrology
o Impervious surfaces
o Land use changes
o Vegetation changes
o Drainage system
changes – storm drains,
engineered stream
channels
o Pollutants
Pollutants – trash, metals –
where do these come from?
What happens to pollutants in
urban areas with impervious
surfaces and storm drains?
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Be able to write out the water balance
equation, define each component, and
describe how each component changes with
urbanization
Be able to identify components of the urban
drainage system, such as storm drains,
impervious areas, concentrated flow paths,
pollutant sources (using the HS campus as an
example).
Understand how pollutants travel in an
urbanized watershed
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2
28-Jan
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Delineate the watershed of an urban creek
based on storm drain lines (handout)
Delineate the watershed of an open space
creek based on topographic lines
(handout)
Use modeling clay to help envision three
dimensions and interpret topographic
maps
Use urban watershed model to explore
streamflow and pollutants
Watch pollution video
In two separate teams, walk around JHS to
observe aspects of drainage, impervious
surfaces, infiltration in vegetated areas,
trash and other pollutants sources. Do it as
a scavenger hunt – students need to
identify specific elements, take photos and
indicate on a map.
Week
3
Date
4-Feb
Topics
Student Learning Objectives
Activities

Review of urban vs. open space
hydrology
Water balance elements during
a storm versus in between
storms
Flood control and why so many
LA Region streams are
channelized

Be able to name at least 4 differences
between urban and open space watersheds
that affect infiltration, runoff and ET
Understand why local streams are
channelized
Understand how infiltration and channel
characteristics affect flood risk
Hypothesize experiment results and compare
to actual results
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Short video
Run experiment created by UCLA student
team to explore infiltration and channel
flow for different scenarios (pervious vs.
impervious watershed, and vegetated vs.
un-vegetated channel). Three teams of JHS
students run each of the 4 experiment
scenarios and record results. Results are
averaged across the 3 teams and
compared to hypotheses.
Field Trip
 Compton Creek watershed and
land uses
 Compton Creek channel
o How does it vary along
its length?
o How does the
vegetation change?
 What lives in the creek?

First hand experience of Compton Creek and
the LA River, be able to identify them on a
map
Experience the biology of the creek
Understand that healthy stream biota are key
objective for achieving clean water standards
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Field trip –
o Coordinated with Heal the Bay
o Conduct a Streamside
Bioassessment
o Due to access limitations and
depth of channel, do the best we
can to capture benthic inverts
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Understand the link between land use and
pollutants
Be able to name common pollutants that
impact water quality, understand their
sources and their impact
Be able to understand common units of
measure for water quality parameters.
Be able to identify various sources of metals,
especially copper and lead
Understand the impact of metals on in-stream
biota
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Students conduct independent online
research on common water quality
pollutants to learn their sources and
impacts to the aquatic environment, how
there are measured, and what levels
typically result in impairments
Students share their findings with the
group.
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4
5
11-Feb
18-Feb
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Land use and industrial
facilities – identifying pollutant
sources in the watershed.
What are the impacts on stream
organisms?
What are the major water
pollutants and impairments of
water quality? How are they
measured, what are their
sources, what are their impacts
on water stream organisms?
o Copper
o Lead
o Trash
o pH
o nutrients
o bacteria; e. coli
o conductivity
o dissolved oxygen
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Week
6
Date
Topics
Student Learning Objectives
Activities
25-Feb
Systems in place to keep streams
clean (Regulations and Permits –
Part 1)
 Clean Water Act, regulations,
permits
 Stream and stormwater
monitoring
 Water quality objectives
 Impaired waterbodies
 Industrial facility inspections
 Responsible agencies
o Regional Water Board
o City Attorney’s Office
o Elected
Representatives (City,
County)
 Water filtration experiment
Discussion of copper toxicity to
stream biota and the influence of
other water quality parameters
(hardness, alkalinity, pH, etc.).
Information based on EPA’s Biotic
Ligand Model.
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Understand how water quality parameters affect
the toxicity of copper and why.
Students research copper toxicity online and
develop answers to the experimental design
questions
Continue discussion of copper
toxicity to stream biota.
Understand the basics of experimental design –
dependent and independent variables, controls.
Understand how to design an experiment to look
at the affects of multiple independent variables.
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7
04-Mar
8
11-Mar
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Know what EPA and RWQCB stand for and
what these agencies do
Understand what an impaired waterbody
refers to
Be able to state the purpose of the Clean
Water Act
Be able to state what a water quality objective
is
Know what the Industrial General Permit
regulates
Be able to describe the systems we have in
place to keep our streams clean and healthy
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9
18-Mar
Field Trip to Hyperion Water
Treatment Plan – focus on the urban
runoff elements of the
Environmental Learning Center
displays.
Learn about links between stormwater, runoff,
water usage, wastewater. Benefit from the
extensive, interactive displays at the Hyperion
Environmental Learning Center.
Filtration demonstration -- students make
their own filters
Fun enactment of chemical processes: one
student is a fish, others are cupric ions
looking to bind to fish gill. Other students
play role of Ca/Mg ions that have already
bound to fish gill and others are carbonate
ions that are looking to complex with the
cupric ion.
Complete the design of an experiment to
look at the impact of multiple water
quality parameters on copper toxicity.
Field Trip
Week
10
Date
Topics
Student Learning Objectives
Activities
25-Mar
Review of material covered to date.
To review and synthesize the information
presented in class to date and to recognize that it
provides the context for next steps of research
and presentations to EPA, RWQCB, etc.
Use fun game such as picking a word/phrase
and having to draw or act it out.
Understand that there is a permit system for
industrial facilities, similar to a driver’s license.
Understand that there are steps that can be taken
at facilities to prevent pollutants from entering
stormwater runoff (like covering piles of scrap
metal). Recognize the concept of a Standardized
Industrial Classification (SIC) Code.
Sign into Google and use MyMaps to create a
custom map and to search for facilities based
on keywords. Import the watershed boundary
layer and the land use layer that highlights
industrial use. Create a new layer to import
facilities found using the keyword search.
Intro to stormwater permit system
11
08-Apr
Overview of stormwater permits.
(Regulations and Permits Part 2)
Brief intro to mapping.
Start of research into industrial
facilities in watershed that might be
contributing metals loads to
stormwater. Brainstorm keywords
related to metals and use MyMaps
to search and store as map layer.
12
15-Apr
Presentation on Civic Action
Projects by Gregorio Medina from
the Constitutional Rights
Foundation.
Have each student write a paragraph about
what the watershed problems are and how we
might address them. Read in front of the class.
Learn how to use Google MyMaps.
Learn how to take action in the community for
environmental improvement
Learn how to search using imagery.
Group work to identify root causes of
problems and identify civic actions that can be
used to address these causes (under guidance
of CFR guest speaker).
Continue with research of industrial
facilities using MyMaps. Search
using Google Earth imagery.
13
22-Apr
Continue with research of industrial
facilities using MyMaps. Search for
SIC codes for each facility and
compare to IGP list of covered SIC
codes. Prep final list of facilities to
review on field trip.
Learn how to present data in a report, create
graphs, discuss findings.
Continue with identifying metals-related sites
using Google maps, and doo Google search for
corresponding SIC codes.
14
29-Apr
Understand the connection between on-line
findings and on-the-ground observations.
Take photos and make notes on field forms.
15
06-May
Field trip to assess status of a subset
of identified metals-related sites in
the neighborhood of JHS.
Review findings from field trip and
upload field notes onto shared
project site
Process information and observations from the
field, and understand research protocols for field
data management.
Upload field notes and analyze overall results.
Week
Date
Topics
Student Learning Objectives
Activities
16
13-May
Write letters to agencies and facility
owners.
Learn to logically organize ideas and information.
Learn to make a case for change and action.
Write letters
17
20-May
Finalize letters, plan video and
record interviews for video.
Learn to logically organize ideas and information.
Learn to make a case for change and action.
Write letters, make video
18
Week
of May
25
Wednesday: review and prepare for
presentation
Gain experience speaking to an elected official,
learn about the City Council activities, and visit
City Hall.
Students take public transportation with
teacher to City Hall, meet rest of the team from
UCLA and Waterkeeper.
Friday: Presentation to LA City
Councilmember for District 9.
Notes:
 Project meetings were held after class on Wednesdays from 3-5pm at Jefferson High (1319 East 41st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90011)
 A total of 18 weekly meetings: January 21st through May 27th, 2015
 One week off for JHS Spring Break during week of March 30th
Supporting documents including PowerPoint presentations, handouts and student exercises, are available for download from the UCLA project
website at: http://www.environment.ucla.edu/urban-waters/
*This implemented curriculum reflects a combination of our ideal teaching program and the real-world issues encountered related to student
attendance, availability of internet connectivity, and other challenges. For more information, please contact Felicia Federico at
ffederico@ioes.ucla.edu.