This activity was developed to get students thinking about the many ways that people use freshwater, and how we can conserve this precious and fundamental natural resource. In this activity, students will watch a short documentary describing issues related to clean water availability, analyze water-use data and start to think about how they consume and can conserve water. This background knowledge will lead to students collecting data about their own water use and finding areas in their lives to conserve water.

Students will define potable and non-potable water, depict an illustration of the water treatment cycle, and identify problems with treating dirty water.

In this activity, students design a water filtration system and present to the class why they picked their design.

Students investigate the issues surrounding water in their local area and relate this knowledge to water issues in other countries.

Students research the effect of common pollutants on our waterways and hold a mock trial to determine the worst pollutant.

Students investigate causes of water quality degradation and analyze the relationship between harmful algal blooms, toxic algae, and dead zones. They explore water quality "success stories" and actions to improve water quality.

This water quality unit was written to accompany the novel, "Flush," by Carl Hiaasen. I have used it with gifted 5th graders, but the activities best align to 8th grade Science NC Standards. Students do not have to read the novel in order to complete the unity. The activities are hands on. It may take a few days to gather materials, so plan ahead before beginning. There are some activities that are linked to websites, but are free and for public use.

In this lesson, students will recognize water as a frequent subject in the news. Students will uitilize different sources to find information on current water issues. Then students will use writing skills to publish a paper on water issues.

Students review each step of the water-treatment process used to make water potable and analyze the order in which the steps occur.

Students will learn about water resources by examining the water cycle and how water is distributed on Earth, how we manage our water resources to ensure that they are healthy for use.

Students will learn where and how people obtain safe drinking water while recognizing the various roles that professionals play in municipal water agencies in acquiring, treating and delivering safe water. This discussion guide is meant to be used with the Water You Drink four-part video series.

Students will investigate the factors that can influence the health of urban watersheds. This activity is part of "Investigating Your World With My World GIS," a set of activities designed for use with My World GIS software (which can be downloaded at www.natgeoed/myworldgis) to help students learn key content and practice spatial problem solving.

This cross-curricular ELA/science module consists of three units. In Unit 1, students build background knowledge about the central role that water plays in all life. In Unit 2, students use the US Environmental Protection Agency My WATERS Mapper to explore major US watersheds and the USGS National Water Information System to examine their local watershed. Unit 3 provides scaffolding toward students' summative writing assessment.

In this lesson, students learn about local watersheds by investigating community watershed projects.

In this lesson, students will describe a watershed. They will also understand the water cycle.

This lesson uses hands-on activities to discuss water filtration. Students will have the opportunity to explore water filtration by filtering water through a variety of materials and using potatoes to grow and test the bacteria levels of the water. With a focus on nanotechnology, this lesson discusses the benefits of embedding silver ions in filters to kill harmful bacteria. At the end of this lesson students will have the opportunity to put their knowledge to the test in a written discussion by designing a solution to a mock water crisis.

In this activity, students will explore water contamination and learn that contaminants may not always be detected with our senses.

In this activity, students take water samples from a local waterway. They will test the pH and then conduct a series of experiments to investigate the chemistry of the water.

In this project, students will research a local body of water to find out if it has a history of pollution, visit the site to make observations and do water quality tests, and study the pollution’s effect on plants and animals. Finally, students will decide on a course of action to help clean up the site.

In this project, students learn about watersheds by researching, mapping, and surveying their local watershed area. They then choose a body of water from within the watershed to determine its health. Along the way - students work with local officials, site monitoring groups, and experts to determine the health of their chosen site. Their findings, along with recommendations of what works and doesn't work in water conservation, serve as the core of their student-designed public awareness campaign.