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What
Can I Do?
These problems didn’t happen overnight,
so it’s going to take time to clean them up. People in your state and
county are doing lots of things to keep waters healthy, but they can’t
do it all. Do you think someone is watching how much fertilizer your
mom puts on her garden or whether you pick up after your pup? Everyone’s
actions every day can make the difference. Here are 12 ideas to get
you started, but don’t stop there!
1. Survey your home. Before we can come up with solutions, we have to know
the problems. Use the survey at the end of this booklet to see how you
and your family rate and how you can help be part of the solution instead
of part of the problem.
2. Conserve water—inside
and out. By conserving the
amount of water we use, we reduce the amount that needs to be treated.
l Check to see if your toilets are leaking. Squirt a couple drops of
food dye into the top of the tank and wait a few minutes to see if the
dye shows up in the toilet bowl. If it does, you’ve got a leak. l Help
your family install low-flow devices for your showers and toilets that
reduce the amount of water used. l Water the lawn early in the morning
or in the evening to reduce evaporation and increase the amount the
plants drink. Make sure the sprinkler isn’t also watering the driveway
or sidewalk.
3. Love your lawn—naturally. Ask your parents to convert some of the grassed areas
in your yard into natural areas. This eliminates the need for fertilizers,
provides habitat for birds and animals, and frees up your time from
mowing the lawn. Where you do have to mow, leave the grass clippings
on the lawn to provide natural fertilizer to the grass, and let the
grass grow to at least 3 inches before you cut it.
4. Build a compost
pile. Composting yard and food wastes is a great way to
make your own organic fertilizer and reduce waste that goes into landfills.
Be sure to keep meat and dairy products out of your compost pile—they
can attract rodents. Call 1-888-LANDCARE for more information on backyard
conservation or go to www.nrcs.usda.gov and click on "Backyard
Conservation."
5. Take a day off each
week from using cars. Many
of the metals and pollutants that wash into streams come from our cars—copper
from brake pads, cadmium from tires, oil from the crankcase. Get your
whole family involved. Ride bikes, walk, or take public transportation
at least one day a week. Convince your parents to treat to you to a
movie with all the money they save in gas. 6. Stop storm drain pollution.
Those hollow drains along your curb are meant to carry storm water off
the street during heavy rains. Chances are that whatever goes into a
storm drain winds up in your local stream. Storm drain stenciling is
a good way to let others know not to dump anything down there such as
oil, leaves, pet waste, grass clippings, or cigarette butts. Produce
and distribute a door hanger or flyer for local households to make them
aware of your stencilling project and remind them that storm drains
dump directly to the local waterbody. Visit www.earthwater-stencils.com
for more information on how to do a storm drain stenciling project.
7. Dispose of hazardous
waste properly. We’re not
talking about drums of nuclear waste. We’re talking car batteries, solvents,
pesticides and cans of oil-based paint. Contact your local waste collection
facility to find out how to handle these materials. Many facilities
have free collection days when you can bring in these materials for
disposal.
8. Adopt a stream. Find out if there is a volunteer monitoring organization
or watershed group in your community—and join it. If not, start one
as part of your science class or other local organization. Check out
EPA’s web site (www.epa.gov/adopt) for a list of watershed groups in
your community. Read EPA’s brochure Getting Started in Volunteer Monitoring
at www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring.
| Make
others aware of what’s out there...
|
|  Make up a rap song about the big three and present
it to your friends. Come on, here’s something to get you started
. . .
Bacteria, nu-tri-ents, and dirt
Are bad dudes mucking up
our earth... |
9. Participate in the
International Coastal Cleanup.
The annual event is sponsored by the Center for Marine Conservation
every September. For more information call (800) CMC-BEACH or visit
http://www.cmc-ocean.org/.
10. Get informed. Knowledge is one of the most powerful tools around.
Find out all you can about your watershed. What are the boundaries?
Where does your drinking water come from? How is it treated? Get a copy
of your state’s water quality report (visit http://www.epa.gov/305b/)
to find out the major water quality issues in your area. A good starting
place is EPA’s Watershed Information Network at www.epa.gov/win.
11. Enter the River
of Words Poetry and Art Contest.
Co-sponsored by the Library of Congress and United States Poet Laureate
(1995-1997) Robert Haas, the River of Words Poetry and Art Contest seeks
to foster responsibility, imagination and action in young people and
to publicly acknowledge their creativity and concerns. Visit http://www.riverofwords.org/, send an
email to info@riverofwords.org,
or call (510) 548-POEM.
12. Spread the word. Once you’ve learned about your watershed and its major
water quality issues, tell others. Make a presentation in your school.
Write an article for your school or community newspaper. Organize an
environmental fair at your school. Contact the Water Environment Federation
(public_education@wef.org) for a kit
on hosting a watershed festival. The Groundwater Foundation (1-800-858-4844)
also has several guides on hosting water festivals, including Making
More Waves: Ideas from Across the U.S. and Canada for Organizing Your
Watershed Festival.
| There’s
a method to this madness: How to use the scientific method |
| Below
are some ideas for projects that you can do for school or for
fun. Before starting any of them, check with your parent or
teacher first. These projects are designed to increase your
awareness and concern for the environment. Make sure you share
what you learn with your family and friends.
Scientists
use the scientific method to solve problems. For each of the
projects listed in this report follow
the same steps: |
| 1. |
2. |
3. |
4. |
5. |
| Describe
a problem
and formulate a question
to answer. |
State
your hypothesis.
A hypothesis is a statement that predicts what you think will
happen. |
Conduct
the experiment.
Make observations about what is happening. |
Analyze
the information. |
State
your conclusion. Was your hypothesis incorrect? What have you
learned, based on the information you collected? |
|
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Science
Project – The Wonders of Wetlands
Build a Working Wetland Model
|
| Materials: |
|
- 2 large aluminum roasting pans
- Sand
- Modeling clay
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- Carpet
- Ground pepper
- Twigs, branches
|
| Background: |
Wetlands
are amazing natural areas that are in between deep open water
and dry land. Sometimes it is easy to see the water in a wetland.
At other times the wetness lies just below the surface of the
soil, where the plant roots grow. Maybe you think of wetlands
as swamps, bogs, or marshes—muddy places that smell like rotten
eggs, are full of mosquitos and leave your sneakers caked in muck.
Maybe you think of them as cool places full of turtles, frogs,
and birds.
Wetlands provide more benefits
than most people realize. First, wetlands provide nurseries and
homes for birds, fish, reptiles, insects, amphibians, and mammals.
Wetlands also can filter out pollutants before they reach the
stream. Wetlands can slow down the flow of waters to reduce the
chances of flooding and protect areas from erosion. Finally, wetlands
provide opportunities for recreational activities such as canoeing
and birdwatching. When you finish this experiment, you will be
better able to understand how wetlands are beneficial to our environment. |
| Hypothesis: |
State
a hypothesis about the ability of a wetland to filter pollutants
and soak up excess water. Give reasons for your hypothesis. |
| Experiment: |
In
the first roasting pan make a model of a wetland. Build the wetland
using materials such as sand, clay, carpeting, and twigs (hey,
be creative).
Leave the other pan empty. Raise
both pans at one end approximately 2 inches. Measure equal amounts
of water. Pour the water over the wetland pan and into the empty
pan. Observe and record what you see. How long did it take the
water to settle in the end of the pans? How much water was in
the lower end of both pans?
Repeat the experiment several
times. Each time, add more and different materials to the empty
pan. Observe and record how long it takes the water to travel
to the ends of the pans. Which materials soaked up the most water?
Repeat the experiment with your
wetland pan adding pepper to the water. Observe and record how
much pepper ends up at the end of the pan. What happened to the
remaining pepper? |
| Conclusion: |
What
conclusions can you draw from this project? In what ways are wetlands
beneficial to an ecosystem? |
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Science
Project – From Rain to the Drain
Measure changes in pH as water
goes
from your house to a stream |
| Materials: |
|
- 4 clean containers to collect water samples
(cut the tops off empty plastic ½-gallon milk containers)
- pH testing kit (ask your science teacher where
you can get a kit)
- Graph paper
- Measuring tape
|
| Background: |
As
rainwater falls and moves across your yard, down the driveway,
and into a storm drain, it picks up pollutants. These pollutants
come from many sources such as the exhaust from our cars, fertilizers
on our lawns, dirt from bare patches, and wastes from our pets.
These pollutants can affect the pH of the water, making it more
acidic. pH is the measure of how acidic or basic a solution is.
Changes in pH can affect how chemicals dissolve in the water and
whether organisms can use these chemicals to grow. Most aquatic
organisms prefer a pH range of 6.5–8.0 |
| Hypothesis: |
State
a hypothesis about how the pH readings of your water samples will
change as the water flows from your yard down to a storm drain.
Record your hypothesis. |
| Experiment: |
Identify
four sampling locations starting at the highest point (hopefully
near your house) and ending in a storm drain. Measure the distance
between your sampling locations, and space the locations at least
30 feet apart (or measure 30 paces with your feet). Leave the
first container outside your door to collect rainwater. Laying
each container on its side, collect the runoff from the other
three locations. Test the pH of each container and record your
findings. Repeat the sampling two more times on different days.
Each time record the number of days since the last rain event
before you sampled.
Plot your measurements on a graph
with the pH concentration on one axis and the sampling location
(distance from your house) on another axis. |
| Conclusion: |
Does
the pH in the water samples increase, decrease, or stay the same?
What conclusions can you make about the changes in the pH from
your house to the storm drain? How do you think these changes
affect the pH level of the river water? Did the pH level change
from one rain event to another? What do think are the major sources
of pollutants in the rainwater? |
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Science
Project – Watershed Awareness Campaign |
| |
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| Background: |
Clean,
healthy watersheds depend on an "informed public" to
make choices that help the environment. Hundreds of thousands
of dollars are poured into education campaigns each year to make
communities aware of the sources of water pollution in their watershed
and what can be done to prevent these problems. Marketing firms
conduct research on their markets before they develop an ad campaign.
They identify their markets, find out what messages appeal to
them, and then develop ways to get the messages out.
Conduct your own research to gauge
the awareness of your community on watershed issues, and design
a marketing campaign to improve awareness of the issues. |
| Hypothesis: |
State
a hypothesis about the current understanding of watershed issues
in your community. Predict which audiences are the most informed
and which messages you think will appeal to which audiences. |
| Materials: |
- Interview forms
- List of questions
|
| Experiment: |
Identify
at least three different audiences from which to gather information
on watershed issues (for example, students in grades 6-9, homeowners,
local elected officials). Develop a 1- or 2-page interview form
to ask questions that will help you determine their level of knowledge
on various issues. (For example, do they know what a watershed
is? Where does their drinking water come from?) [Hint: Use some
of the questions on the Test Your Water Smarts in this report
to get you started.] Determine how you will get the information.
(During lunch period? Stopping people at the grocery store? After
a board of supervisors meeting?) After you collect and analyze
the information, develop a campaign to address the major gaps
of knowledge in your community and outline strategies to fill
in these gaps (a watershed fair, articles in the local newspaper,
etc.). Show examples of materials you would use to get the message
out. |
| Conclusion: |
What
audiences were the most informed about watershed issues? Which
messages appealed to the different audiences? How did the different
audiences get their information on watershed issues? |
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|
 Many of the links
on this page are pointers to other hosts and locations in the
Internet. This information is provided as a service; however,
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not endorse, approve,
or otherwise support these sites. |
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