Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
1. Which of these helps stop soil
and fertilizer from running off a
farm field into a stream?
3. What are the solids that are
denser than wastewater, so that
they sink to the bottom, called?
5. What are soil or bits of rock
suspended in water?
7. What happens in a septic
system's drain field?
A. planting a grass buffer
B. fencing along the stream
C. plowing to the edge of a
stream
A. sludge
B. scum
C. rocks
A. sediment
B. organic solids
C. scum
A. bacteria in the soil break
down the waste
B. sunlight breaks down the
waste
C. scum and sludge are
separated
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
1. Who determines if a water
protection law is being broken?
A. the court system
B. congress or legislatures
C. agencies in the executive
branch
CORRECT: A, A
3. Which federal act gave the
EPA authority to set water quality
standards, permit wastewater
releases and fund construction of
waste water treatment plants?
A. the 1972 Clean Water Act
B. the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System
C. the 1948 Federal Water
Pollution Control Act
5. How can a person find out
what chemicals local factories or
companies have released into
area waterways over time?
A. by typing their zip code into
the federal Toxics Release
Inventory website
B. by calling their local county
health department
C. by calling their state
environmental agency
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
7. What kind of government
initiative is the EPA National
Student Design Competition to
research, develop and design
solutions to real world challenges
in sustainabilty?
A. research
B. education and information
C. economic incentives
CORRECT: A, A
CORRECT: A, A
CORRECT: A, A
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
2. The first step in cleaning
wastewater at a treatment plant
is to remove large solids. What is
this step called?
4. What is waste water or storm
water that flows overland into a
body of water?
6. What happens to sludge in a
septic tank?
8. What are chemicals that mimic
natural hormones and affect
development and reproduction in
living organisms?
A. it accumulates on the bottom
B. it floats on top of the
wastewater
C. it flows into the drainfield
A. screening
B. clarification
C. aeration
A. non-point source water
pollution
B. point source water pollution
C. industrial waste
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
2. What is an area of water near
the mouth of a major river where
excess nutrients from fertilizer
have led to the death of most
life?
4. What criteria do water quality
standards have to meet?
6. Who encourages passage of
water protection laws and
supports their enforcement?
8. What is the drop in the pH of
ocean water from 8.25 to 8.14
called?
A. non-governmental
organizations
B. congress or legislatures
C. agencies in the executive
branch
A. ocean acidification
B. ocean basification
C. normal variation in ocean pH
A. a dead zone
B. an algal bloom
C. a swamp
A. where possible, water should
support fishing and simming
B. all waters have to be drinkable
with minimal treatment
C. the requirements cannot be
too expensive for industry or
agriculture
CORRECT: A,A
CORRECT: A, A
CORRECT: A, A
A. endocrine disruptors
B. antiobiotics
C. road salt
CORRECT: A, A
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
9. What is acid rain?
11. The third step in cleaning
wastewater at a treatment plant
is to mix the liquid fraction with
air to help bacteria break down
the small solids. What is this step
called?
13. The second step in cleaning
wastewater at a treatment plant
is to separate scum and sludge
from the liquid fraction. What is
this step called?
15. How could sediment affect
the the healt of plants or animals
living in a lake or stream?
A. precipitation that has a pH
lower than 5.7
B. precipitation that has a pH
lower than 7.0
C. precipitation that has a pH
higher than 7.0
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
A. screening
B. aeration
C. clarification
A. aeration
B. clarification
C. screening
A. it could clog up the gills of the
plankton
B. it could reduce algal
photosynthesis
C. it could settle around their
roots and stabilize them
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
9. What is an agricultural
operation where animals are
confined 45 days or more during
the growing season in an area
without vegetation?
A. a Confined Animal Feeding
Operation (CAFO)
B. a free-range feeding operation
C. a cow-calf operation
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
11. Who ensures there is enough
water for all the users in an area/
A. urban planners
B. farmers
C. water quality technicians
13. Rain washes mercury out of
coal plant emissions into the
nearest waterway. What converts
elemental mercury to poisonous
methyl mercury?
A. sediment
B. bacteria
C. fish
CORRECT: B, A
CORRECT: A, A
15. What kind of water treatment
standards rely on achievable,
cost-effective technologies?
A. cost-effective standards
B. technology-based standards
C. water-quality based standards
CORRECT: B, B
CORRECT: B, B
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
10. Which characteristic or
condition of the environment
affects how seriously acid rain
affects a lake?
12. Which of these helps keep
waste from cows out of a
stream?
14. Who creates methods of
cleaning industrial waste water?
16. What is waste water that
flows from a pipe into a body of
water?
A. whether the lake bedrock is
limestone or granite
B. whether the lake has a lot of
nutrients in it
C. whether the shoreline is
forested or not
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
A. using a culvert to carry the
waste away
B. fencing along the stream
C. limiting cows to one spot in a
stream
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
10. Who studies the effects of
pollution on ocean health?
12. What process do algae
undergo that uses up so much
dissolved oxygen that fish cannot
survive?
A. oceanographers
B. water quality technicians
C. farmers
A. respiration
B. decomposition
C. photosynthesis
CORRECT: A, A
CORRECT: B, B
A. industrial engineers
B. microbiologists
C. water conservationists
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
14. Which federal policy requires
every point source discharger in
the U.S. to get a permit to
release used water?
A. the 1948 Federal Water
Pollution Control Act
B. the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES)
C. the 1972 Clean Water Act
(CWA)
A. ground water
B. point source water pollution
C. non-point source water
pollution
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
16. Who passes water protection
laws, assigns protection to an
agency and provides funding for
enforcement?
A. agencies in the executive
branch
B. congress or legislatures
C. the court system
CORRECT: B,B
CORRECT: A,B
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
17. What happens to scum in a
septic tank?
19. Which of these is a
documented effect of an
endocrine disruptor?
21. Who studies the movement
of water above and below
ground?
23. What is the best way to
decide how much fertilizer to
apply to a crop field?
A. delayed maturation of human
females
B. feminization of male frogs
C. masculinization of female
birds
A. chemical engineers
B. hydrologists
C. water conservationists
A. use the same amount as the
previous year
B. find out how much everyone
else is using this year
C. do a soil test
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
21. Who monitors the water
quality of streams, rivers and
lakes?
A. it flows into the drainfield
B. it floats on top of the
wastewater
C. it accumulates on the bottom
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
17. What is a governmental
factor that affects enforcement of
environmental laws?
19. What is causing a change in
the pH of the ocean?
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
A. urban planners
B. water quality technicians
C. farmers
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
23. Who sets water quality
standards in the U.S.?
A. how serious the human health
concerns are
B. how much money congress or
legislatures allocate
C. whether the courts think it is a
good law or a bad law
A. industrial pollution from rivers
B. absorption of excess CO2 in
the atmosphere
C. absorption of CFCs in the
atmosphere
CORRECT: B, B
CORRECT: B, B
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
18. What waste treatment
system works by holding feces
and urine in a pit or tank until it
can be removed for further
treatment?
20. What causes acid rain?
22. Who monitors water for
harmful bacteria and other
pathogens?
24. What are the solids, like fats,
grease and oils, that float on the
top of wastewater called?
A. industrial engineers
B. microbiologists
C. hydrologists
A. sludge
B. rocks
C. scum
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
20.Which Confined Animal
Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are
automatically regulated by the
EPA?
22. What do high levels of
nitrogen and phosphorus in
water from fertilizer runoff
cause?
24. Which federal act required
the Surgeon General to eliminate
or reduce pollution of interstate
waters?
A. all CAFOs
B. those over 1000 animal units
C. those over 300 animal units
A. a boom in fish populations
B. water clearing
C. algal blooms
CORRECT: B, B
CORRECT: B, C
A. the 1972 Clean Water Act
B. the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES)
C. the 1948 Federal Water
Pollution Control Act
CORRECT: B, B
A. the EPA for the whole country
B. counties for their own waters
C. states and tribes for their own
waters
CORRECT: C, C
A. a lagoon
B. a pit toilet or latrine
C. a septic system
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
18. What kind of government
initiative are the EPA Watershed
Academy self-paced training
modules?
A. research
B. education and information
C. economic incentives
A. CFCs in the atmosphere
B. sulfur and nitrogen
compounds in the atmosphere
C. carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere
CORRECT: B, B
CORRECT: C, C
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
25. The last step in cleaning
wastewater at a treament plant is
to disinfect the water. What is
this step called?
27. What is an underground tank
used to treat household
wastewater in places with no
centralized treatment?
29. How do factories dispose of
their wastewater?
31. What is an effect of acid
rain?
A. clarification
B. screening
C. chlorination
A. a holding tank
B. a settling pond
C. a septic tank
A. they pipe it to a river
B. they store it in lagoons until
the water evaporates
C. they pretreat it and send it to a
wastewater treatment plant
A. algal growth is higher
B. zooplankton populations
increase
C. fish eggs may not hatch
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
25. What kind of water treatment
standards rely on achieving a
specific level of environmental
quality?
27. What kind of government
initiative is the Clean Water Act's
revolving fund for cities for sewer
systems and treatement plants?
29. What is an effect of ocean
acidification?
A. technology-based standards
B. cost-effective standards
C. water-quality based standards
A. education and information
B. research
C. economic incentives
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
A. marine mammals' vision is
affected
B. there are algal blooms
C. coral reefs dissolve
CORRECT: C,C
CORRECT: C, C
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
Grades 6-8 Water Pollution
26. What is an area of land
whose rainwater and snowmelt
drain into a single stream or
river?
28. What happens to the liquid
part of wastewater in a septic
tank?
30. Who advises individuals and
governments about water quality
and quantity
A. a river
B. a lake
C. a watershed
A. it accumulates on the bottom
B. it floats on top of the
wastewater
C. it flows into the drainfield
A. industrial engineers
B. hydrologists
C. water conservationists
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
26. Who sets standards for water
protection laws, helps people,
businesses and agencies follow
them, and enforces them when
they are not followed?
28. What kind of government
initiative is a $3 million civil
judgement against Trans Energy
for damage to streams and
wetlands caused by natural gas
extraction activities?
Grades 9-12 Water Pollution
30. What is an animal unit?
A. education and information
B. research
C. penalties
CORRECT: C, C
CORRECT: C, C
A. urban planners
B. water quality technicians
C. farmers
CORRECT: C, C
CORRECT: C, C
A. congress or legislatures
B. the court system
C. agencies in the executive
branch
31. Who oversees the production
of food and its effects on water
quality?
A. animals equivalent to a 200 lb
pig
B. animals equivalent to a 5 lb
chicken
C. animals equivalent to a 1000
lb cow
CORRECT: C, C
Water Pollution Grades 6-12
EARTH QUEST
Water Pollution Grades 6-12
EARTH QUEST
Water Pollution Grades 6-12
EARTH QUEST
Water Pollution Grades 6-12
EARTH QUEST
Water Pollution Grades 6-12
EARTH QUEST
Water Pollution Grades 6-12
EARTH QUEST
Water Pollution Grades 6-12
EARTH QUEST
Water Pollution Grades 6-12
EARTH QUEST