Water Crisis

Introduction

This WebQuest was created to help students understand the importance of the water process and how it is vital to our community. To better understand the importance of water to our community, we need to understand the water process.

Introduction

Water is a valuable resource to life on the earth. Everyone in our community uses water everyday, and there is less of it to go around every year. We need water for drinking, farming, houses, protecting aquatic ecosystems, watering lawns and gardens, factory use and to put out fires. We need to be able to help preserve water. What should we do?

Task

In the city of Ivanhoe, most families get their water from a well water pump system. Most well water is pumped out of the ground automatically using a submersible pump, or a jet pump that sits on top of the ground and draws water out of the ground to create water pressure for the home. Some well water systems use a large storage tank to store the water before it is pumped again to the house. It is very common for families to run their well dry of water. They are forced to go without water for periods at a time if they are not making water useful.

Imagine that you are a player in the debate about water rights in the community of Ivanhoe. What do you need water for? What is your perspective on the issue, and what concerns do you have? Make your voice heard.

The class will be divided into groups of three with each person being responsible for their own unique role. Your task is to:

1.) Learn about the water cycle.

2.) Research Ivanhoe community information.

3.) Develop different ideas on what ways you can conserve water.

4.) Present your ideas to your community.

Process

Step 1: Learn the Water Cycle. Know the steps so you can teach someone else the cycle.

Use these links to help you in researching and finding your data:

Kidzone Water Cycle

USGS Water Cycle

UCSD Water Diagram

How does the water cycle work? How does the weather effect our water system?

2.) Research Ivanhoe community information. Think of ways other people need water for daily living. e.g, farmers, conservationists, or citizens of Ivanhoe.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Ivanhoe-California.html

http://www.city-data.com/poverty/poverty-Ivanhoe-California.html

Example Diagram of a Submersible Pump

How does the city of Ivanhoe use water? How does the amount of rain each year determine the availability of water?

3.) Develop different ideas on what ways you can conserve water.

What ways can the city of Ivanhoe conserve water? How can you limit the use of the amount you use a day? Think about the different ways farmers, conservationists, and citizens can preserve water.

4.) Present your ideas to your community on a poster called "water policy" to encourage members to implement your ideas to conserve water.

How is water important to you? What can you do to conserve water everyday. Determine the most important use for our water. Why are you entitled to use water in this way? If you are given the water rights that you seek, how will that affect other groups? Why is it most important that water be used in the ways you promote than in other ways?

Evaluation

This is how your work will be evaluated.

Research Project

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Ideas/Research Questions	Researchers independently identify at least 4 reasonable, insightful, creative ideas/questions to pursue when doing the research.	Researchers independently identify at least 4 reasonable ideas/questions to pursue when doing the research.	Researchers identify, with some adult help, at least 4 reasonable ideas/questions to pursue when doing the research.	Researchers identify, with considerable adult help, 4 reasonable ideas/questions to pursue when doing the research.
Delegation of Responsibility	Each student in the group can clearly explain what information is needed by the group, what information s/he is responsible for locating, and when the information is needed.	Each student in the group can clearly explain what information s/he is responsible for locating.	Each student in the group can, with minimal prompting from peers, clearly explain what information s/he is responsible for locating.	One or more students in the group cannot clearly explain what information they are responsible for locating.
Plan for Organizing Information	Students have developed a clear plan for organizing the information as it is gathered and in the final research product. All students can independently explain the planned organization of the research findings.	Students have developed a clear plan for organizing the information in the final research product. All students can independently explain this plan.	Students have developed a clear plan for organizing the information as it is gathered. All students can independently explain most of this plan.	Students have no clear plan for organizing the information AND/OR students in the group cannot explain their organizational plan.
Group Timeline	Group independently develops a reasonable, complete timeline describing when different parts of the work (e.g.,planning, research, first draft, final draft) will be done. All students in group can independently describe the high points of the timeline.	Group independently develops a timeline describing when most parts of the work will be done. All students in group can independently describe the high points of the timeline.	Group independently develops a timeline describing when most parts of the work will be done. Most students can independently describe the high points of the timeline.	Group needs adult help to develop a timeline AND/OR several students in the group cannot independently describe the high points of the timeline.

Conclusion

Nice work. You should be proud of yourselves! How can you use what you've learned about water? What other parts about conserving water could still be explored? How does this change the way you look at the other issues we've discussed this year?