Water Quality with 5th Graders - CE 321

Water Quality in our lakes, rivers, streams and even oceans is dependent on how humans use land.  As water passes over and through the ground, eventually making its way to the various bodies of water, it picks up “pollutants” such as sediments, dissolved salts and soluble chemicals that may be present.  Therefore, by understanding land-use and how it can impact water quality we might better manage land around our lakes, rivers, streams and oceans.

    Through this mini-lesson elementary students will learn about two key contributors to water quality, turbidity (i.e., a measurement that tells us how many solids (sediments) are floating around in the water) and conductivity (i.e., a measurement that helps us understand what concentration (mass/volume) of dissolved salts are present in the water).  College students will provide hands-on experiments, visual aids, and explanations around practiced lessons to educate how each of these pollutants impact water quality to our elementary school partners.