Lesson 05 – What Is the Relationship Between Soil and Drinking Water Quality
Lesson 5 of the “Drinking Water: Protecting the Source” curriculum, this lesson teaches high school students about the relationship between soil/geology and drinking water quality and quantity. Students explore groundwater recharge, infiltration, filtration, and groundwater vulnerability, then apply a mathematical model to estimate water-supply vulnerability for a hypothetical town and use the NRCS Web Soil Survey to describe and assess soil types in their own county. It includes teacher background, an interest approach, activities, worksheets, an assessment, and PowerPoint slides.
At a glance
- Learning objectives
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- 5.1 Explain the relationships of geology/soil types on drinking water quality and quantity.
- 5.2 Describe the major soil types in the agricultural areas in their county.
- Time required
- 90 minutes (More time will be needed for review or remedial work on basic soil science concepts)
- Grade level
- 9-12
- Materials
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- SW.5.1.SA Worksheet, Resource Management: Protecting Your Drinking Water – one copy for each student
- SW.5.2.SA Worksheet, Collecting Local Soil Survey Data – one copy for each student
- Computers and Internet connections for students
- Introductory/refresher soil resources: Down and Dirty (The Dirt on Soil, Discovery Channel); Just Passing Through (GLOBE); Soil Education (USDA/NRCS)
- Soil survey resources: The Twelve Orders of Soil Taxonomy (USDA/NRCS); Keys to Soil Taxonomy (USDA/NRCS); NRCS Web Soil Survey site; Soil survey mobile application
- Key Terms
- Confined aquifer, Filtration, Infiltration, Groundwater recharge area, Groundwater vulnerability, Percolation, Unconfined aquifer
Downloads & Links
Aligned Standards
National Science Education Standards for Grades 9 – 12
- Content Standard A: Scientific Inquiry: Abilities Necessary to Do Scientific InquiryDesign and conduct scientific investigations; Use technology and mathematics to improve investigations and communications.
- Content Standard A: Scientific Inquiry: Understandings About Scientific InquiryScientists rely on technology to enhance the gathering and manipulation of data.
- Content Standard C: Life Science: The Interdependence of OrganismsThe atoms and molecules on the earth cycle among the living and nonliving components of the biosphere.
- Content Standard D: Earth and Space Science: Geochemical CyclesThe earth is a system containing essentially a fixed amount of each stable chemical atom or element. Each element can exist in several different chemical reservoirs. Each element on earth moves among reservoirs in solid earth, oceans, atmosphere, and organisms as part of geochemical cycles.