Hydration Nation

What To Do

Activity Prep

• Important: before the activity, prepare all the water samples and store in plastic bottles. To prevent potential spills, store bottles in sealed bags. 
• You may wish to prepare the 1.10g/ml salt solution for Activity 3: Hydrometers calibration in advance. Do this by adding 60ml (12 tsp) of fine grain salt to 500ml (2 cups) of water. Detailed instructions can be found on the task card for this activity. 
• Set up stations before the workshop begins. There should be 2 stations for Activity 1-3 (total of 6 stations). 
• Activity 4: Environmental Crisis should be a surprise. Have all materials ready and set to the side until students are ready. 
• Construct Secchi disks ahead of time (3 + extras).
• For Activity 2: Physical Properties of Water, wrap sand and gravel in nylon to avoid messes.

Introduction 

• As a group, discuss the ways that water affects our lives.
• Arrange participants into 6 groups.
• In game-show style, give each group one question to answer. Keep the game going quickly and give other groups the chance to agree or disagree. 
• Show the Newly Discovered Island Map (poster or PowerPoint).
• Explain the scenario to the class. 
  • They will be testing water samples taken from a newly discovered island.
  • They will use three different methods to analyze samples from a lake, river and bog from the new island. 
  • At the end, they will make recommendations on the potability of the water samples. 
• Explain each station using the task cards. .
• Give each group a laminated map and a Hydration Nation Data Report.

Water Chemistry

Activity 1A: Testing of Water Samples

• Discuss pH and the Canadian Guidelines for the pH of Potable Drinking Water. 
• Give each group six orange pH indicator papers (range of 1-14) and three green pH indicator papers (range of 4.5-8.5).
• Using the orange pH paper, each group will test the following solutions:
  • Washing soda solution
  • Lemon juice
  • Distilled or deionized water
  • Sukita River sample
  • Camada Lake sample
  • Kisula Bog sample
• Using the green pH paper, each group will test the following solutions: 
  • Sukita River sample
  • Camada Lake sample
  • Kisula Bog sample
• They will tape each paper into their data report and label the tested solution. 
• They will write down the pH value for each water sample.

Activity 1B: Water Quality Guidelines

• Using the Hydration Nation Lab Report results along with the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality, participants will analyze the three water samples for other important water quality factors (bacteria, nitrates and fluoride levels). 
• They will rank the water samples in terms of pH, coliform bacteria levels, nitrate levels and fluoride levels on the Data Sheet on a scale of 1 to 3 (1 being the best, 3 being the worst).

Physical Properties of Water

Activity 2A: Erosion and Deposition

• Introduce watersheds and explain how erosion occurs. 
• Using the overhead map (or poster), have participants locate where the watershed is on the island.
• Give each group a laminated River Activity Sheets and a washable marker. 
• Based on the flow speed of the rivers, they will determine where erosion and deposition processes are occurring and will mark it on their sheet.
  • Erosion points are marked with an “X”
  • Deposition points are marked with an “O”
• They will draw what they predict the Cut Off River’s shape will be in the future. 
• They will mark the erosion and deposition points along the Sukita River on their map of the island. 

Activity 2B: Turbidity

• Each sample (Sukita River, Camada Lake and Kisula Bog) should be in clear 32oz containers. The sample should be stirred before testing.
• To test for turbidity, each participant will:
  • Slowly lower the Secchi disk into one sample until they can no longer see it while looking straight down. 
  • Pinch the string at the surface of the water. 
  • Pull out the Secchi disk while keeping their fingers pinched.
  •  Measure the length of the string between the Secchi disk and their fingers. 
  • Record the data. 
  • Repeat the process for each sample. 

Activity 2C: Filtration 

• Set up filters by putting screen door fabric around the open part of a water bottle and securing it with an elastic. Add various filter materials onto the screen, leaving one bottle aside as the control.
• To filter the samples, each participant will:
  • Stir the filtration water sample (Kisula Bog) before testing. 
  • Measure a 50ml sample for each filter to test. 
  • Pour the sample slowly through the control filter (the one with only the screen). 
  • Repeat with the other filters and compare all the water filtered by the different materials to the water in the control bottle (the one with just screen and nothing else). 
  • Pour all the filtered water back into the sample bottle. 
  • Rank the individual filters and record the data. 
• Discuss a way to use the materials to build a complex filter that will remove most of the debris from the water.

Activity 3: Hydrometers 

• Display a real hydrometer and explain how it is used.
• To make the hydrometers, each group will: 
  • Place 5 round head nuts and a piece of ruled paper into an empty test tube.
  • Calibrate the hydrometer by:
    • Fill the glass cylinder with water so that it is ¾ full. 
    • Slowly insert the test tube in the glass cylinder, making sure to have the test tube floating upright in the water. 
    • Figure out where the water touches the grid paper. Draw a line on the worksheet to show this point. This indicates the density of water= 1.0g/ml. Record this number. 
    • Use a plastic bottle to mix 12 teaspoons of salt (60ml) to 2 cups of water (500ml). The density of the solution is now 1.10g/ml. (The solution may be made in advance).
    • Repeat the steps above, this time using the 1.10g/ml solution. Record the number that indicates the density of the new solution. 
    • Draw a line at the mid-way point between 1.10g/ml and 1.0g/ml. This represents a density of 1.05g/ml.
    • The hydrometer is now calibrated!
  • Test the three samples from the island. For each trial, fill the cylinder ¾full of the sample water, add the hydrometer and record where the meniscus occurs in their data sheet. 

Activity 4: Environmental Crisis

• This activity should be a surprise. Approximately halfway through the workshop or after participants have completed at least one station, set off an alarm. 
• Tell them that a plane has crashed near a watershed area on the island and oil is leaking into the water system. They must act quickly to limit the effects of this spill on the environment! 
• Hand out tubs with water, oil and the materials needed for the activity. 
• They will have 15 minutes to try to clean up the oil. 
• Once time is up, discuss the impact of oil spills on the environment. Refer to the Information on Oil Spills document. 
• Clean up materials. They can return to the station they were previously working at. 

Wrap-up

• As a group, discuss each group’s findings and the quality of the three possible fresh water sources. 
• Put up river answers transparency, then island map transparency. Explain how water speed tends to create a “S” shape of meandering rivers. 
• Write the following chart on the board. Have participants rank each sample from 1 to 3 and discuss each test.
  • You can use lines beside the chart for other pHs and a filter picture for the complex filter question. 

1= best quality, 3= worse quality

• Have participants look at their overall findings and suggest the best source for drinking water. Explore ways to make that water more potable. 
• Ask “What do you think the government should do with the island?”. 
• If there is enough time, do the Water Distribution Demonstration.
• Discuss possible careers related to the topics covered and what they would need to do (schooling, experience, etc…) to get into those careers. 

Water Distribution Demonstration

• Display 1L bottle filled with coloured water. This represents all of the water that exists in the world. 
• Pour 30ml of the water into a small clear plastic cup. This represents all of the fresh water in the world.
• Pour 5ml of the water into the clear plastic tube. This represents all of the available fresh water in the world; the rest is frozen in glaciers, polar ice caps and icebergs.
• Using the pipette, pull our another 3 drops (1ml) of water. This represents all the liquid, fresh water on Earth. There is 40x more liquid, fresh water in underground aquifers. Most of the fresh water we use comes from lakes, rivers and streams.
• Squirt 1 drop on the floor. This represents the water that is in the air and surface soil.
• Squirt the rest on the back of your hand. This represents all of the available, fresh water left on Earth.