This video is a wrap up of the previous activities and introduction to watershed and groundwater concepts.
Materials
- A copy of either The Truth About H2O or The Streamkeeper
The Truth About H2O
This video takes a humorous look at the uses of water around the world. It starts out by describing the amount of water in the world, as well as reminding students that they are 2/3's water.
It then briefly describes the hydrological cycle, but states that while there is the obvious natural water cycle, we have made millions of man-made water cycles as well. It shows the workings of a water cycle within a professional baseball stadium.
One of the more important aspects discussed in the video is the importance of water traveling through soil before reaching groundwater, or rivers and lakes. It reminds the students of soil organisms that filter the water and rid it of impurities. It poses the question of water running across a parking lot and then draining into a river.
The video goes on to show students studying stream flow, as well as a restored wetland, a tour of a sewage treatment plant, and students studying river wildlife.
The Streamkeeper
The principle idea of this video is to recruit and educate potential streamkeepers. However, at the same time it does an excellent job educating students about the health of streams and watersheds.
The video starts by identifying a streamkeeper as someone who adopts a section of stream, investigates it, inventories and monitors it, and takes action to protect it. The video then goes on to define a watershed, showing how watersheds fit into the hydrological cycle. It also shows different types of watershed, from simple watersheds, such as a small stream, to huge watersheds, such as the Mississippi River.
Following this, the video shows the three steps of how to be a streamkeeper and gives examples of each. To investigate a stream, the video suggests looking for litter (or a lack thereof), checking water quality (dissolved oxygen, acidity, turbidity, etc.), and other investigations such as measuring the size of the stream.
To inventory and monitor a stream the video suggests examining plant life in and around the stream and monitoring wildlife such as fish and insects. To take action, the video suggests correcting problems that the stream has, and ensuring that problems the stream doesn't have, do not occur.
Topics for discussion:
Discuss ideas about stream monitoring. Talk about local watersheds, and their quality.
Students should discuss how water might flow in a cave environment. Would it be faster or slower? How would the presence of an asphalt parking lot over top of a cave affect the water in a cave?
Introduction