Drinking Water? Convincing
Kids that it Matters.
A NEW SPIN ON WATER STUDIES
Margaret Busker-Postlethwait
Buchtel High School
Akron, Ohio
Overview
 Background –

Distribution Systems and Drinking Water Quality
 Review of Akron, OH Drinking Water
System
 Student Activities-Demonstrations
 Resources
Background Information
 Drinking water in cities mainly comes from a
reservoir or aquifer.
 Surface water-biological pollutants
 Ground water-possible leachates
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 . . . . .
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.
Water Sources
Water: From Reservoir to Tap
Reservoir
(Lake Rockwell)
Water Distribution System
Watershed
(Cuyahoga)
Treatment Plant
(city of Akron)
Homes
Distribution Systems 101
There are general relationships between:
1. distance from water plant and water age
2. water age and chlorine residual
3. water age and DBPs
Chlorine vs. DBP
Chlorine residual
measurement of
tap water gives us
a lot of
information!
2
1.5
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0.5
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1
2
3
4
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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.
Akron City Water
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
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 businesses
Distribution System provides:
• Water to meet demands (quantity and pressure)
of homes and businesses
• Water quality that meets Federal regulations
Be 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.
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!
The Unit
 Pre-assessment
 Guskey Cycle (teach, re-teach, enrichment)
 CSR- Collaborative Strategic Reading
 Notes on Water (reading road map)
 Guided reading
 Water testing
 Assessment
 Enrichment
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
Remind that vocab is a running
copy vocab challenge.
and define
Day 3-6
LAB
Students are
split into 3
stations
Station ONE
Guided 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
Questions are modeled after
read
Bloom’s Taxonomy
through
packets and
answer
questions as
a group
Station TWO
Test Water
Students bring up
samples and we
test in small
groups.
Students
continue to
work on
sheets and
record their
Cl data.
Day 5
Day 6
Revisit pre
assessment
Facilitate
In groups
students
discuss the
pre ass.
Reflection and
wrap up
Students complete
the BIG WATER
PICTURE
Students
write
Wrap up and ASS.
Facilitate
Students
share their
group
results
from
lab/investig
ation
activity
Chance to catch up with other
students
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

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
What it looks like
Students testing their water sample
and completing their guided reading
using the Akron Water Treatment
Brochure .
sample work
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”
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
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.
Water will be
coming in
from
reservoir
entering city
from the
north. Water
is pumped
throughout
the grid
system.
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 McIver
Citizens Water Group
Indianapolis Documents
 http://www.citizenswater.com/WaterQuality/Treati
ngDrinkingWater.aspx
 Mapquest
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.
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?
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?
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 sample
 Your City website (look under Utilities)
 CCR (Consumer Confidence Reports) – all cities
 have them, a standard report on water quality for
regulated parameters
 Google Maps (City)
 OhioEPA (www.OhioEPA.gov)
 Public drinking water systems information
 Watersheds-water quality