Water Lesson Plans
Surface Water
Canada — a watery wonderland
There are two ways we get drinking water. It comes from either ground water or surface water. Surface water is found in our many lakes and rivers and usually starts in higher elevations as ice and snow. This water source may be exposed to industrial, agricultural and urban pollution. Municipalities must use many different treatment processes to keep our drinking water clean and safe. Do you know where your drinking water comes from?
Cool lakes ringed by rustling pines; prairie marshes in spring dawn; remote and rocky ocean coasts; or restless rivers tumbling across the northland’s tundra. That’s Canada! It’s true that this nation and water go hand in hand. We are blessed with one-fifth of the world’s fresh water — more than any other single country. Almost 9 percent of Canada’s landmass is covered by fresh water and about 30 percent of that lies in the North. We can proudly claim about 2,000,000 lakes — not to mention enough rivers, marshes, swamps, bogs, fens, sloughs and ponds to make a duck quack! All of Great Britain would fit into the Great Lakes, which we share with our American neighbours. Half of Canada’s population lives along these huge lakes. Three mighty oceans offer us 200,000 km of coastline as well. That’s Canada — a watery wonderland, indeed!!
Storm Water
Wonderful wetlands
Water that runs down the storm drain from excess watering, washing vehicles or even rain flows freely from the street down a myriad of pipes under our streets and right into the nearest water source. Grease, oil, gasoline, anti-freeze, and lawn chemicals are carried in the water and dumped untreated into our waterways affecting plants and wildlife, and in many cases our own drinking water. What can we do to keep our water clean and safe?
A wetland is simply any area of land covered with water for a part of the day or year. We have both freshwater and saltwater wetlands and a variety of names to describe the different kinds — lake, river, marsh, swamp, bog, fen muskeg, pothole, flood plain, pond, puddle and slough. While lakes and rivers act as the blood-vessels of our plant, other wetlands behave like kidneys. Plants and animals living in a marsh break down sewage and many chemicals, leaving clean soil and water behind. Ordinary cattails and bulrushes, for instance, can absorb poisonous heavy metals like lead and mercury. They can also convert fertilizer residues into growing plant parts. Wetlands also work like sponges, soaking up rain and melted snow before they can drain off the land into a river. Ponds and marshes reduce the risk of flooding and erosion in rainy times and help keep the nearby soil moist in dry times. Wetlands also conserve water by feeding important aquifers.
Water Conservation
The value of water
Conserving and protecting our fresh water resources should be a priority for everyone. Water quality and quantity are important factors to consider. Are we wasting water when we take long showers or water the lawn, and are we careful about what we send down the pipes to our lakes and rivers? North America has a large percentage of the world’s fresh water, so why are we spending money on bottled water that isn’t very environmentally friendly?
We take water for granted. Yet without it, every living thing on earth would die. About 60 percent of our body is water. If you could squeeze yourself out like a lemon, you would get about 42 litres of water — that’s about 168 glasses of lemonade! The water in our bodies helps to digest our food, take in oxygen, transport body wastes and control our temperatures. We can live without food for more than a month, but we can live for only a few days without water.
Ground Water
Underground sponges
One of the two ways we can get our drinking water is by looking underground, in the layers of rock and soil. The earth is a great filter so the water usually needs very little purification. This resource can be damaged by what we do on the ground above it. Contaminants can seep into these underground aquifers, and unless it is properly treated it can be unsafe to drink. What are you doing that could be contaminating the groundwater?
You might be surprised to know that two-thirds of the world’s freshwater supply is found underground. Even in Canada, there is more water underground than on the surface. This groundwater is found in tiny spaces between particles or in cracks in bedrock. The underground areas where large quantities of groundwater are found are called aquifers. Wells and springs come from these underground aquifers.
Waste Water
Most people don’t like to think about where everything goes when we flush the toilet or run the tap. After it has been treated it gets sent back into our waterways, but our treatment plants are not able to clean up some of the toxic chemicals and medicine being sent down the drain. What are you flushing that could be harming the fish.
More Resources
Find more lesson plans dealing with water and water issues at Canadian Wildlife Federation's hww.ca and CWFEducation.ca