Water Quality

This video shows water throughout Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt and discusses the quality of the Greenbelt’s water compared to other places in the state.

Possible Guiding, Compelling and/or Anchoring Questions

• Why is Chichaqua’s water quality higher than the water quality of some other places?
• How can water be “clean” even though it sometimes looks dirty?
• How can we measure and improve water quality?

Classroom Suggestions

Students could:

• Video conference with or meet a water quality engineer to find out how water quality is tested and what it means for water to be of “good” quality.
• Test and analyze water from different sources in their area.
• Research how wetlands improve water quality.
• Compare and contrast the water filtration that occurs in wetlands to how water treatment plants and small-scale filtration solutions (personal water filtration devices, solar distillation, etc.) work.
• Define a particular problem of water quality in their community or the world, including criteria and constraints.
• Choose between different solutions for that problem and justify their decision.

Related Resources

• Iowa State University Extension (Iowa Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program): Water Quality Issues: A short summary of water quality issues in Iowa, with great maps of the Upper Mississippi and Ohio River Basins.
• Southwest Florida Water Management District: Measuring Water Quality: Student-accessible background on measuring water quality.
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers: Engineers Without Borders-USA Clean Water Curriculum: Includes a variety of activities for all grade levels inspired by a water quality project in Kenya.
• US Environmental Protection Agency: Wetlands Education for Students and Teachers: EPA resources about wetlands.
• Iowa Department of Natural Resources: AQuIA Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Database: Iowa DNR database of groundwater quality.