Water Quality & Conservation

YES! Resources:

• YES! Project Guide: Carbon Water and Climate Change
• YES! Project Guide: Hydroponics
• YES! Project Guide: Soil Amendment
• YES! Project Guide: Water Conservation Plan
• YES! Project Guide: Water Recycling Elementary Project

Other Resources:

• Adopt-A-Drain – Clean street drains of debris and sediment to keep our lakes and rivers healthy
• Citizen Water Monitoring – Volunteer as a water monitor for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
• Aquatic Invasive Species Detector – Become a Aquatic Invasive Species Detector for the University of Minnesota
• Invasive Species Prevention and Management – MN DNR
• EPA Drinking Water & Groundwater Education Materials – Water resource educational material broken out by age group
• EPA Water Lesson: Keeping All of Our Waterways Clean – Learn about the water cycle and keeping pollution out of waterways
• EPA Surf Your Watershed – Students find their watershed and get a list of organizations working on water quality
• US Geological Survey Water Science for Schools – Students can find information about different aspects of water along with pictures, data, maps and an interactive center
• Water Footprint Calculator – Find out what your water footprint is

Hands-on Projects:

• Clean Up Storm Drains- Help keep our waterways clean by picking up trash, debris, leaves, and sediment that accumulates by storm drains because that is washed right into our rivers and lakes. Check out the Adopt-a-Drain program here!
• Storm Drain Stenciling- Raise awareness about keeping storm drains clean by painting storm drains that are visible to pedestrians, like they did here!
• Survey for macro-invertebrates- “Water bugs” are indicators of pollution because some are more sensitive than others so determining what species are in a water body can determine the health of that water, learn more here!
• Take and test a water sample- How clean is your lake or river? Testing for pH, nitrates, phosphates, dissolved oxygen and more will tell you the health of your water, here is a great water quality testing kit to use.
• Build a rain barrel- Conserve water by using collecting and using rainwater for outdoor purposes such as watering plants. Here are directions to build your own rain barrel!
• Survey for aquatic invasive species- Collect plants and specimens from lakes and rivers to identify. Use this AIS Identification Guide to help you. [After examining them at the collection site, return plants, animals, and water to the water body, even invasive species. It is illegal in MN to transport surface water or possess AIS without permits from the DNR.]

Videos:

• The Power of Clean Water (44 min)
• Chasing Rivers, Part 1: The Colorado Nat Geo Live (24 min)
• Chasing Rivers, Part 2: The Ganges Nat Geo Live (24 min)

Suggested Books:

• Replenish by Sandra Postel
• Water 4.0: The Past, Present, and Future of the World’s Most Vital Resource by David Sedlak
• The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan

• Where the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River by David Owen