Lesson 3: Go to the Source: Your Town's Tap Water
Students conduct research to find out how the water in their town or city gets to the faucet.
OBJECTIVE
Science Goal: Students will learn how water gets to the tap and perform a simple experiment.
Language Arts Goal: Students will conduct a local research project using primary and secondary sources.
MATERIALS
Go to the Source: Your Town's Tap Water Lesson Printable 3 (PDF) , pen, paper, Water Cycle Diagram, research materials, tap water, filtered tap water, cups, and markers.
DIRECTIONS
1. Ask: Do you know where your tap water comes from? Using a show of hands, count the number of students who have a house with a well; use town or city water; or don't know. Explain that a well links an underground reservoir to an individual home; and city or town water comes from a community reservoir.
2. Tell the class: Just as we learned about the process involved in producing and transporting bottled water, we will now learn about the process involved in getting water to the tap. Use the diagram at www.dwi.gov.uk/consumer/images/waterc.gif to aid in describing the following process:
• Large underground pipes carry water from rivers and streams to a reservoir. (A reservoir is a place that stores water.)
• The water is then cleaned. Large objects, like feathers and garbage, are filtered out. A second filter removes smaller objects, like gravel and sand.
• Then the water goes to a water treatment plant where things like bacteria (which can make you sick), and minerals (which can make water taste or smell funny) are removed. Scientists remove the minerals and add bacteria-killing chemicals and flouride which some dentists say promotes healthier teeth.
• Once the water is clean and safe, it leaves the treatment plant, and makes its way through underground pipes, called mains, to the city. Mains branch out into smaller pipes, which go into homes, schools, and businesses.
• Water pressure pushes the water up through the pipes in the wall, and out of your faucet.
Using the Printable:
3. Tell the class they will now conduct research using online references, interviews, and in-person observations to find out how tap water reaches their town or city. Divide students into teams of three, and distribute Go to the Source: Your Town's Tap Water Lesson Printable 3 (PDF) to each student.
4. Read the introduction together and provide students with class time to conduct research. Review the definitions of primary and secondary sources and encourage the use of primary sources (interviews, quarterly water-testing results, official city or town Web sites, etc.) during this project.
5. Review the results of students' research. Discuss the similarities and differences between what each group discovered.
6. Distribute the materials for the Taste-Testing Our Water experiment described on Lesson Printable 3 (PDF) and allow time for students to complete it in teams. Discuss the results as a class. (Take the pledge at filterforgood.com and get a coupon for a Brita® produt to use in this experiment.)
7. Ask students to consider the environmental impact of bottled water compared to tap water, and emphasize the importance of thinking about how our actions affect the environment. Encourage students to share their own feelings about how making small changes in our habits can reduce waste. Have students respond to the writing assignment on the Go to the Source: Your Town's Tap Water Lesson Printable 3 (PDF) . Publish some of your students' "testimonials" in the "Talk to Us" section of this website.
Extending the Lesson to Home:
Ask students to look at the results on their Tracking Your Trash Activity Printable 1 (PDF) from their second day of tracking. Discuss the results and encourage students to keep up the great work!
ARTICLE
UNIT PLAN
ONLINE ACTIVITY
