Water Quality Data for Lake Pontchartrain (Source: PC) 

Overview:

Students will explore how a variety of parameters used to investigate water quality including: temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrates, and nitrites, help us to determine if water is safe.

Objective:

Students will identify common parameters for measuring water quality.

Materials:

Data: Pontchartrain Conservancy's Weekly Water Quality Data

Reference Material: Parameters

Worksheet: Parameters Tell a Story

Video: "Explore More: Water Quality"

Procedure:

Ask students to describe water that is safe.  Write their answers on the board.  What does it look like? How can it be used?  Is water that is used for flushing the toilet different from water that we swim in?  How?  Is safe lake water the same as safe drinking water?  How is it different?  What do we mean when we ask if it's safe to swim in Lake Pontchartrain?

Explain that monitoring water quality is the way we check on the health of water.  The parameters that are monitored vary depending on what the water is being used for.  When asking if it is safe to swim in a body of water, we are interested in human health, but what about other types of safety?

Share and Discuss Pontchartrain Conservancy's Weekly Water Quality Data.  What can we learn from looking at this data?  Which locations have advisories against swimming?  Which have advisories against boating?  Why are these different?  What parameters are they using to understand if the water is healthy for various activities?

Pair up and Explore Parameters. Ask students to decide which topic interests them the most.  Why is this topic of interest?  What examples can they think of where these parameters could make water unsafe?

Complete Parameters Tell a Story.  Revisit the Weekly Water Quality Data and find one location that has an advisory.  Look closely at the parameter data. Compare it to a location without an advisory.  How do they differ?

Extend the Learning by sharing "Explore More: Water Quality" and discussing the topics in the video.

Assessment: Completed worksheets and observation during discussions.

This model relates data on nutrients from various sources to water quality. (Source: USGS)

Overview:

Students will define what "safe" means and how it is determined for various organisms and situations.

Objective:

Students will list factors that impact the safety of water.

Materials:

Audio Clip: "Can You Define Safe Water?"

Reference Material: Dissolved Oxygen

Reference Material: pH #1 and pH #2

Worksheet: Defining Safe Water Quality Parameters

Online Tool: EPA's "How's My Waterway?"

Online Tool: EPA's Water GeoViewer

Instructions: EPA's Water GeoViewer

Procedure:

Ask students to recall how they described the idea of safe water.  Ask them to write their ideas on a piece of paper.  Highlight the words that they feel are most relevant.

Share "Can You Define Safe Water?"  Have students listen for the words they used in their own descriptions of safe water.  How does their own idea of safe water compare to this description?  Do they agree with the speaker?  Why?  Are there any remaining questions that they have about how we define safe water?  Where would they find the answers?

Look at and discuss the Dissolved Oxygen, pH #1, and pH #2 reference materials.  How do these graphics expand their understanding of what safe means for different species?  Can changes in pH be harmful?  How does a decrease in dissolved oxygen affect what species can live in a body of water?

Complete the Defining Safe Water Quality Parameters using the reference materials.  What does it mean that different species have different needs when it comes to water quality parameters?  How does that affect how we define safe water?

Explain that the EPA monitors water quality in the state of Louisiana through a series of testing sites.  Ask students to predict how safe they think the state's water is for the following activities: for swimming, for eating fish from, for aquatic life, for drinking water, for lakes and reservoirs.  Ask them to rank them from the most safe to the least safe.

Share and discuss the EPA's "How's My Waterway?" by selecting Louisiana from the state drop down menu and clicking "Go."  Explore each activity.  How did their predictions match up to the data?  Which activities have been impacted the most?  Dig deeper into what is impairing these areas by clicking on "Top Reasons for Impairment..."  If time permits, explore other states and compare them to the Louisiana results.

Extend the Learning with the EPA's Water GeoViewer.  Use the EPA's Water GeoViewer instructions to discover local impaired waterways, water dischargers, and more specific local information.

Assessment:

Completed worksheets and observation during discussions and activities.

Source: LUMCON

Overview:

Students will collect data by measuring water quality parameters and aquatic macro-invertebrates in a nearby waterway.

Objective:

Students will use appropriate tools and techniques to investigate the quality of a nearby waterway.

Materials:

Google Maps

Data Collection: Leaf Pack and Bayouside Classroom

Reference Material: Water Quality Field Testing Example

Online Tool: NOAA Water Quality (Data in the Classroom)

Teacher Guide: NOAA Water Quality (Data in the Classroom)

Procedure:

Reflect on the previous two sessions.  What do they know about water quality?  How do they know?  What parameters must be monitored to determine if a waterway is safe?

Ask students to identify a nearby waterway to investigate using Google Maps.  Will the water be safe?  Ask them to determine what safe parameters would look like for this location.  What should the pH be?  The dissolved oxygen levels?  What should the salinity reading be?

Explain the methods you will be using to collect water quality data at the nearby stream. Use both Leaf Pack and Bayouside Classroom protocols.

Pair up and test the water and collect  aquatic macro-invertebrates. Please review the Water Quality Field Testing Example to design your collecting field day.* These methods give different data, but both can be used to make inferences about water quality. Whenever students are on-site working near water, please give detailed water and wildlife safety briefings for all participants.  Here is some general guidance.  For those of us near alligators, here is some advice.

*Allow for pre-fieldwork practice using tools and techniques that will be used to collect the water quality data.

Share and discuss the results.  How did the water quality testing data compare to the aquatic macro-invertebrate data?  Was the water safe?  What organisms would be comfortable in this water?  Why?

Extend the Learning with NOAA Water Quality (Data in the Classroom) modules.  Refer to the NOAA Water Quality (Data in the Classroom) Teacher Guide for directions on how to use it.

Assessment:

Completed data sheets and observation during discussions and activities.

Source: PC

Overview:

Students will explore the various causes of changes in water quality and how they are tied to the concept of watersheds.

Objective:

Students will identify primary causes of changes in water quality.

Materials:

Article: "Water Quality of Lake Pontchartrain and Outlets to the Gulf of Mexico Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita"

Video: "What is a Watershed?"

Online Tool: USGS Streamer

Article: "Bonnet Carre Spillway to Open Friday to Lower High Mississippi River in New Orleans"

Worksheet: Water Quality and the Opening of the Bonnet Carre

Reference Material: Bonnet Carre Spillway ppt

Procedure:

Reflect on the previous sessions.  What does it mean for water to be safe to swim in?  To drink?  To eat fish from?  How does measuring various parameters help us determine the health of our water?  How does the safety of water quality change over time?

Share and discuss "Water Quality of Lake Pontchartrain and Outlets to the Gulf of Mexico Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita." How do hurricanes impact water quality?  What other events can impact water quality?  Create a list of ideas generated by the students.

Explain that many things can impact water quality on a small scale and on larger scales.  Look at the student's list.  Are their ideas mostly on a large scale or a small scale.  Sort them appropriately.  Add any items that were left off (oil spills, saltwater intrusion, non-point source pollution, climate change, etc)

Share "What is a Watershed?" How does this concept shed light on why water quality changes daily?  How might an event in one part of the watershed impact the water quality of another part of the watershed?

Explore the USGS Streamer tool.  Click on the "Hydrographic Base Map for Terrain."  Zoom in to Louisiana.  Center the area between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.  Ask students to trace how an oil spill in Baton Rouge could make its way to Lake Maurepas, Lake Salvador, Chalmette.  Could a large spill in Baton Rouge impact the water quality in these distant locations?

Read and Discuss "Bonnet Carre Spillway to Open Friday to Lower High Mississippi River in New Orleans." Will this event  impact water quality in Lake Pontchartrain?

Complete Water Quality and the Opening of the Bonnet Carre.  Use the Bonnet Carre Spillway ppt to answer the questions on the worksheet.

Assessment:

Completed worksheets and observation during discussions.

A body of water (Source: Lisa Fotios)

Overview:

Students will reflect on how their knowledge of water quality has shifted during this exploration.  They will also examine this new knowledge as it relates to environmental justice.

Objective:

Students will organize and communicate the take-aways from this exploration.

Materials:

Online Resource: Freshwater Watch

Article: "New Drinking Water Report: Communities of Color More Likely to Suffer Drinking Water Violations for Years"

Worksheet: Monitoring Water Quality

Procedure:

Explore Freshwater Watch.  Have students look through the "Our Data" section in the menu.  What are some of the global trends? What local issues is Brazil facing?  How about China?  How does teaching people how to monitor water quality help improve water quality?  Check out the data and the publications, too.

Ask students to share the information that was of most interest.  Discuss why they found that information interesting.  Ask students to reflect on what they knew about water quality before this exploration.  How has their knowledge changed?

Explain that environmental justice is a factor that is central to communities that have been historically marginalized.  Is water quality an issue that can impact marginalized communities differently?  Why?  What resources need to be available for a community to manage water quality?

Share and discuss "New Drinking Water Report: Communities of Color More Likely to Suffer Drinking Water Violations for Years." How does this article shed light on why water quality is an environmental justice issue?  In what other ways might impaired waterways affect marginalized communities?  Were there any in your local community?  What do you know about the communities where these impaired waterways are located? How can you find out more?

Complete Monitoring Water Quality.  Ask students to reflect on what they have learned.

Share and discuss student's answers.  Where can they find out more about this topic?  What aspects of this exploration had the most impact on their thinking about this topic?

Assessment:

Completed worksheets and observation during discussions.