Lesson Plan 2
Time: 1 hour 30 min
Title: Global Issues and the Water Cycle
Learning Expectations:
1. Identify the Millennium Development Goals
2. Describe the global perspective on water
3. Explain the water cycle and the sources of contaminants
Materials Required:
Learning
Strategies
Topics and Key Points
1. The Global Perspective
 Def’n of an improved water source (household
connection, public standpipe, borehole, protected
well, protected spring, rainwater)
 Def’n of access to basic sanitation (connection to
public sewer/septic tank, pour flush / simple pit /
ventilated improved pit latrine)
 MDGs
 1.1 billion without access to safe water
 2.6 billion without to improved sanitation
2. Water Cycle
 Evaporation, transpiration, atmospheric, storage,
precipitation, infiltration, runoff, lakes, groundwater,
ocean
 Less than 1% fresh safe water
Use water cycle
poster for
demonstration
5. Symptoms of Water Contamination
 Turbidity
 Color, flavor, odor
 Salinity
 Pipe Scale
 Staining
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Time
Day 1-2
20
Day 1-3
20
5
3. Safe Water
 Distinguish between pure water and safe water
 Identify WHO definition of safe water “does not
represent any significant risk to health over the
lifetime of consumption, including different
sensitivities that may occur between life stages”
4. Water Contamination
 Identify how contaminants enter the water cycle
 Types of Contaminants
a) Physical contaminants: soil particles
b) Microbial contaminants: bacteria, viruses, protozoa,
and helminths.
c) Chemical contaminants: fluoride and chloride
PPT
Day 1-4
10
Demonstrate with
the 3 bottles of
varying colour
Day 1-4
15
Learning
Strategies
Topics and Key Points

PPT
Time
Health of Users
5
6. Major Contaminants & Maximum Contaminants
Levels:

WHO recommends standards to water systems
but does not require systems to comply;
however, states may choose to adopt them as
enforceable standards
Ph
Total dissolved solids
fluoride
manganese
arsenic
6.5-8
500 mg/L
1.5 mg/L
0.05 mg/L
10 mg/L
Iron = Not of health concern at concentrations normally
observed in drinking water, and taste and
appearance of water are affected below the healthbased value
Sulphate = Not of health concern at levels found in
drinking water
Day 1-4
10
7. Contamination indicators
 E.coli (preferred indicator choice) or thermo tolerant
coliforms (also called faecal coliform, acceptable
alternative to E.coli indicator) are used as indicators
of faecal contamination. The WHO recommends
that all water intended for drinking should have nondetectable faecal pollution in any 100 ml sample.
Alternative figures in the following table are often quoted
which may be more appropriate for rural communities:
Faecal Pollution and its Associated Risk
Faecal Pollution and Risk
E. Coli level (colony
Inference
forming units per 100 mL
sample)
0-10
Reasonable quality
10-100
Polluted
100-1000
Dangerous
> 1000
Very Dangerous
5
8. Review
Reflection:
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See Alternative Teaching Tool #1: Discussion Starters for a more participatory
method of teaching this lesson.
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