Project Page

• Go to the USGS National Water Conditions Page and examine the latest map. Have the streamflow been above, the same or below normal for the month for the area you live. Which areas of the country had greater water flow, which had the same and which had less? Be prepared to make a spreadsheet graph, chart or write a paragraph telling what you found out.

• Take the Water Basics Quiz Go to the Water Usage Map. Did your area use more or less water in the 1990s than other parts of the country? Make a graph to illustrate your conclusions.
• Go to the Water Usage Map Gallery and compare your state and other state's water usage as to ground and surface water. Which water did your state use more of?
• Do an activity at the Water Science Activity Center.
  Go to the Water Measurements Center page and find out what scientists measure in the water supply. Can you draw conclusions about how these measurements may differ in ponds, rivers, oceans, puddles, etc. Be ready to report how they might differ. See if you can measure some of these factors.
• Go to the Surface Water Use page. Do people in the US use more ground or surface water? Why do you draw the conclusion you do and why do you think it is so?
• Go to the Glaciers and Icecaps page/ Be prepared to explain the relationship between glaciers, icecaps and fresh water supply.
• Go to the Ground Water page. Be prepared to explain the relationship between ground and surface water - how much there is and where it came from.
• Go to the page on Where the Earth's Water Is and be prepared to explain how much of the earth's water is usable by us and where the water of the world is located.
• Go to the USGS and EPA pages to find out about the water cycle. Be prepared to draw a diagram of its different sections and how it works.
• Pick 20 words from the USGS Water Glossary and make a pictionary to illustrate them.

 

WATER EXPERIMENTS

• CREATE A WATER TABLE
  Fill a large glass jar with about three quarters full of a mix of sand and gravel. Pour water down the side of the glass until the water level comes to about half the mix. This is the level of the water table. As you add more water, the water table will rise.

• PURIFY WATER BY DISTILLATION
  Fill a glass jar one half full of water. Add some food coloring, a tablespoon of salt and some soil. Shake up the mixture and then pour it into a tea kettle. Get some rubber tubing and place the rubber tubing in the kettle spout, securing it with clay. Place the other end of the tubing into a glass placed in a pan filled with ice cubes. Place the kettle on a hot plate or stove burner. When the water is boiled, any impurities will remain in the kettle and the clean, condensed water vapor will settle as steam in the glass.
• MAKE A DISTILLER
  Get a funnel and add a lyer of small pebbles, a layer of gravel and then a layer of fine sand. Pour some clean water in the funnel to flush and pack down the layers. Then put the funnel in the mouth of a glass jar and pour muddy water into the jar The water that goes through the funnel will come out purified into the jar.
• SEA WATER CONTAINS SALT
  Pour a large glass of ocean water into a pan. Let it evaporate. Notice that there is a layer of salt residue.