Water management and pollution
The activities in this section relate to the causes and types of water pollution and the way in which water is treated before it can be consumed by the public. Leaflets, books and posters about pollution, water supply and waste water treatment, and other aspects of rivers are available from the Southern Water Education Service on 0870 3330425 (Fax 0870 3330440) or by writing to P.O. Box 6005, Tockwith, North Yorkshire, YO26 7YH. Useful posters are the Ollie the Otter series, A2 Water Cycle Poster, Are you a drip?, The Story of Southern Water and Ollie the Otter tells the water Story.
ACTIVITY ONE : Types of Pollution In A River.
Read the children the story "Dinosaurs and all that rubbish" by Michael Foreman (published by Puffin books) so that they have some idea of the issues surrounding pollution and that pollution is everyone's problem and the Earth belongs to all people including future generations. Discuss the story.
Discuss with the children the ways in which rivers are used. Explain that many towns and factories are built by rivers and they use the water from the river. When the water is pit back into the river it is often dirty or polluted with rubbish, chemicals and other waste products. Give the children Worksheet 80 which shows the different types of pollution (the children have to match the statements to the pictures) and decide what effects the pollution may have on the river. It is useful to display the Ollie the Otter Poster How can you help protect the water environment? on the blackboard so that the children can see some ways in which water is polluted.
RESOURCES REQUIRED
Scissors.
Glue.
ACTIVITY TWO : River Pollution.
Divide the children into groups of three. Using books, get the children to make a list of the ways in which people can prevent pollution.
In their groups get the children to prepare a speech to the rest of the class to tell them about the following aspects:
1) Types and Causes of Water Pollution (get ideas from Worksheet 80 and expand on them).
2) The Effects of Water Pollution.
3) Solutions to Water Pollution : prevention of water pollution; and the ways water pollution can be cleaned up.
RESOURCES REQUIRED
Books.
Work from previous activity.
ACTIVITY THREE : The Water Cycle.
To start this activity, boil a kettle and hold a glass bottle filled with cold water about 50cm above the steam. Only the teacher should hold the bottle near the steam with caution. Drops of water will form on the surface of the bottle and drip of the surface. This can be compared with the water cycle where water evaporates to make steam and the steam condenses on the cold bottle to form water droplets. This is a useful pre-activity to the main activity of the water cycle. Before the children can properly understand why water needs to be treated before it is suitable for human consumption and other uses, they need to have some idea of where water comes from and how it enters rivers, ground water stores and eventually gets into peoples homes. The children need to understand that it is a cycle as the water is then flushed down pipes and into rivers again where some ends up in sewage works and the rest ends up in the sea where the cycle starts all over again. Pages 5 - 8 of the book Ollie the Otter tells the Water Story are quite useful as a guide to explaining the water cycle and can be read tot he children to help them. But it is recommended that the teacher explains the water cycle in his/her own words to the children as well. An OHP (Worksheet 81) is a useful guide to explaining the processes (special OHP paper for use with a printer is required) or a big A2 poster on the water cycle. When finished the children can use Worksheet 82 about the water cycle (stick statements in the right places).
RESOURCES REQUIRED
OHP projector.
Worksheet 82 - for this activity it is a good idea to photocopy the worksheet onto A3 paper thereby giving the children more space to glue on the labels.
Scissors.
Glue.
ACTIVITY FOUR : How to clean dirty water.
Explain to the children that before people can drink water from rivers and reservoirs that it has to be cleaned as there are diseases and bacteria in the water which can cause people to become ill. Explain to the children that the water has to go to a water treatment works where it is cleaned. One of the processes at a water treatment works is filtration. Explain how filtration works. Use 4 samples of water; one tap water; two water with small solids in it; three water that has got mud in it; and four water with sand in it. Explain to the children that filtration is one process that water goes through at a water treatment works to make it suitable for drinking. The teacher sets up the experiment so that all four samples filter at the same time. Discuss the results as a class once all four samples have finished filtering. Questions to ask are:
1) Which samples of water look clean?
2) Which samples of water look dirty?
3) For which samples of water did the filter paper remove a residue (substance)? (should be sand, maybe mud and solid items).
4) Where is this residue left?
5) Which samples of water would you drink and why?
6) Which samples of water would you not drink and why?
7) What else could be done to those samples of water so that they could be drunk?
The teacher needs to emphasise that the water needs further treatment such as having chlorine and ozone pumped into it to kill off bacteria, and treatment such as sedimentation where all the mud sinks to the bottom of the container so that the water can be pumped off. To demonstrate this point, the teacher could have a jar of muddy water and leave it over the weekend. After the weekend the children could look at the jar of water again (do not let them pick it up as it will disturb the mud settled at the bottom of the jar). The teacher and children could then discuss why the mud has settled to the bottom of the jar (gravity has caused the heavy particles of mud to sink) and the children could devise ways of siphoning off the water without disturbing the mud.
RESOURCES REQUIRED
4 jars of water containing mud, small solid objects, sand and tap water separately.
4 beakers.
4 filter funnels.
4 pieces of filter paper.
Labels for the jars.
ACTIVITY FIVE : Water Supply Works.
This activity focuses on how water is treated at a water supply works and the processes the water undergoes before it is pumped into people's homes for use as drinking water and in appliances. The teacher needs to go through the process of water treatment with the children so that they have an understanding of how it works. Worksheet 83 is a questionnaire based on an educational visit to Burham Water Supply Works, near Maidstone in Kent. A visit to a water supply works is recommended so that the children get an idea of how the water is treated before it is supplied to the public. Worksheet 84 is a guide to making a leaflet about Burham Water Supply Works.
RESOURCES REQUIRED
Glue.
Scissors.
ACTIVITY SIX : Sources of Dirty Water.
For this activity the children need to understand the differences between pollution and waste water. It will help if they have done Activity Four of What is a Reservoir and Worksheet 76 as it will give them some idea of how water is used in the home. Ask the children how they use water in the home. Explain that after the water has been used in the washing machine, it is considered as waste water as it is dirty and it is pumped down drains and into a waste water works. Worksheet 85 gets the children to draw a picture of the things which give off waste water.
RESOURCES REQUIRED
Pencil.
ACTIVITY SEVEN : Waste Water Treatment Works.
This activity focuses on how waste water is treated at a waste water works. Explain to the children that waste water once it has been used is pumped through drains into a waste water works where it undergoes a lot of different processes. Ask the children why they would not want to drink waste water. The teacher needs to go through the processes of waste water treatment so that the children have an idea of how it works. Worksheet 86 is a questionnaire based on a n educational visit to Ham Hill Waster Water works in Kent. Worksheet 87 gets the children to match pictures and do extended writing about Ham Hill Waste Water Works. A visit to a waste water works is recommended so that the children can get an idea of the processes involved.
RESOURCES REQUIRED
Scissors.
Glue.
ACTIVITY EIGHT : Water Conservation.
Explain that sometimes the water companies do not have enough water to meet the requirements of people. This usually happens when there has been a dry winter with little rainfall or a drought. In times like this people have to conserve water by using less. Read the children the leaflet about the Drips (Are you a Drip? - available from Southern Water Student Line). Discuss with the children the ways that the drips wasted water and the ways the Drips tried to conserve water.
In pairs get the children to imagine that there is a water shortage and that they have to halve their present consumption/amount of water used per day. Get them to make a list of all the ways they and their family could reduce their consumption of water. Discuss ideas after about 15 minutes as a class.
Then get the children to design a water saving poster individually (on A4 paper). Get them to think about presentation of their ideas, slogan and pictures to use.
RESOURCES REQUIRED
Are you a Drip? by Southern Water.
A4 paper.
Pens and pencils.
