Water Pollution

Description

A set of disucssion topics on how water pollution comes about (can be adapted to all primary stages but most suitable for middle to upper).

The emphasis is on a small scale and our personal responsibility – how we affect water pollution at home and at school. Obviously reference may also be made to the effect of industrial/agricultural water pollution and the impact of other forms of waste.

Activities described here would be useful as part of Eco School or Sustainable School objectives.

When to Use

Whilst much of this curriculum area is Science based, there are obvious links with Personal and Social and Health Education as well as Citizenship.

It is best to first help children understand: 1. The Water Cycle, 2. How water arrives in our houses and what happens to it afterwards. The latter points can be illustrated with pictures and diagrams and discussion about reservoirs and water supply pipes etc as well as using the Rainfall and Rivers Investigation. See the Water Cycle page.

Materials Needed

Collection of containers for household cleaners etc.
Information about local water processing and recycling facilities.

Activities

Ask the children to list/draw all the ways in which they use water at home.
Make lists of what goes down the drain at home and at school on a normal day– water containing soap, shampoo, toothpaste, washing up liquid, washing powder, cleaning materials, bleach etc. This list can be quite enlightening once started!
Make collections of containers for these products (well washed out) and look at the ingredients. Discuss the fact that most products are chemically based and are therefore potentially harmful. Many will display hazard symbols. Look at these and discuss.
Other products such as paint, paint cleaners etc may also find their way down the drain. Discuss local recycling schemes which might have collections for these ‘hazardous’ products.
List other ways in which water may be polluted through the ‘seepage’ of products such as weed killer and other chemical based garden fertilisers and so on.

Consider where waste water goes (link to Water Cycle investigations)
- down the drain, to a water treatment works and then into a river OR
- into the ground and eventually into rivers

All the above information including the containers collected could be made into a poster or fact sheet titled for example, ‘What goes down the drain?’ or ‘Water pollution can start at home’ or something similar.

Discuss ways in which we at home and at school can help to reduce water pollution, e.g: use fewer harmful, chemical-based products; find natural biodegradable alternatives; make sure that hazardous substances are disposed of properly; don’t flush anything down the toilet which should be disposed of by another means etc. Again, a poster or leaflet could be produced as an individual or group project.
Encourage research of local examples of water pollution and ways in which water pollution is being prevented or reduced (the local water authority, waste services and environmental protection agencies will be able to provide information).
Older children could find out where their local water supply is sourced and where waste water is taken for treatment. Visits could be made to both reservoirs and treatment plants.
As an end of topic activity, groups could produce presentations, Power Point or otherwise, to cover all the elements explored.

Review / Learning

Essential elements to establish are:

the number of different ways in which we use water
the importance of having clean water that is safe to drink
what would make water unfit or dangerous to drink
that other creatures and plants also need clean water
where waste / polluted water goes once we have finished with it

A link can then be established with the part that waste water plays in the Water Cycle (if it is harmful or polluting it will affect living things in rivers, the sea and eventually our own water supplies).

Follow-on and Linked Topics

At the Upper Primary / Secondary levels, you may want to look in more detail at different types of contaminants:

natural or biodegradeable products which will can be processed naturally and be harmless to the environment
manmade or non-biodegradeable products which could harm the environment and living things
(new investigation ideas coming soon to illustrate the differences!)

This allows better understanding of the processes involved in water pollution (e.g. chemical waste in water, from the items we use at home can affect the biological filters in sewage plants and cause problems with waste processing. This may contaminate the water supply further downstream as well as affecting wildlife.

Useful websites:

Young People’s Trust for the Environment – excellent source of research information
www.yptenc.org.uk and then search for Water Pollution.

Scottish Water – information, and activities
www.scottishwater.co.uk/education