Lesson 17 – Source Water Protection in Agricultural Communities – The Watershed Management Approach
This is Lesson 17 (“Sources of Drinking Water”) of the “Drinking Water: Protecting the Source” curriculum on Source Water Protection in Agricultural Communities. Students learn the EPA Watershed Approach Framework for protecting aquatic ecosystems and then use online tools (such as EPA’s Surf Your Watershed) to research and describe their own community’s watershed in detail in order to apply the watershed approach to protecting drinking water sources.
At a glance
- Learning objectives
-
- 17.1 Describe the watershed approach to protecting aquatic ecosystems.
- 17.2 Describe their own watershed in great detail to apply the watershed approach to protecting sources of drinking water.
- Time required
- 50 minutes
- Grade level
- 9-12
- Materials
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- Slide SW.17.TM.A – The Watershed Approach Framework
- Slide SW.17.TM.B – Aquatic Ecosystems
- Ecological Society of America. (2003). Sustaining healthy freshwater ecosystems. Issues in Ecology. 10, 1-16.
- Watersheds, U.S. EPA (website)
- Watershed Approach Framework, U.S. EPA (website)
- Watershed Academy Training Module on Surf Your Own Watershed and other EPA tools (website)
- Watershed Central website
- Healthy Watersheds website
- Computer
- LCD projector
- Science in your Watershed, USGS (website)
- Surf Your Watershed (EPA) (website)
- Water Quality Assessment and Total Maximum Daily Loads Information (ATTAINS) database
- Topographic map of your county
- Road map that includes your county
- Computer with Internet access for groups of 2-3 students
- Copies of worksheet SW.17.2.AS, My Community's Watershed, for each student
- Key Terms
- Adaptive management; Aquatic ecosystems; Ecosystem services; Impaired water; Stakeholders; Stream flow; Watershed; Watershed approach
Downloads & Links
Aligned Standards
National Science Education Standards for Grades 9 – 12
- Content Standard A: Abilities Necessary to Do Scientific InquiryDesign and conduct scientific investigations.
- Content Standard D: Earth 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 the solid earth, oceans, atmosphere and organisms as part of geochemical cycles.
- Content Standard F: Science and Technology in Local, National and Global ChallengesHumans have a major effect on other species. For example, the influence of humans on other organisms occurs through land use—which decrease space available to other species—and pollution—which changes the chemical composition of air, soil and water.
- Content Standard F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives: Natural ResourcesHuman populations use resources in the environment in order to maintain and improve their existence. Natural resources have been and will continue to be used to maintain human populations.