Welcome to the Salt Lake County Virtual Water Quality Fair. You can have your students follow along and do the activities/experiments via the video recordings anytime*. Videos are below and links to the guide and activity books are at the bottom of this page.

Note: It will work well if you have students participate in groups of 3 or 4 students per group.

Virtual Water Quality Fair TOPICs include:

• Important Factors in Water Quality

• Why Stormwater is So Important—Pervious vs. Impervious Surfaces

• Creating a Watershed Model

• Identifying Macro-Invertebrates

• Determining if an aqueous solution is acidic or basic (pH)

VIDEO #1- IMPORTANCE OF WATER QUALITY AND MAKING A WATERSHED MODEL

Video: What is a Watershed, What is Stormwater, and Why Should We Care? Activity: Making a Watershed Model — Total Video Length: 10:52

Presenter: Michelle Martinez, Retired SLCSD Middle School Teacher

Notes: Michelle introduces students to the importance of stormwater and water quality. At 4:50 in this video, she begins the activity of coaching students through making a watershed model.

For each group, you will need to provide the following supplies:

• 1 File folder (opened up and with folded corners, this will act as a tray)

• 4 three-inch pieces of tape (Tip:1 ft. strips could be given out in advance and "staged" by sticking the edge of the tape to one of the group member’s desk)

• 4-5 magic markers

• Spray bottle(s) (fill with water--1 person could go around and spray the water - i.e. the teacher)

• Regular 8 x11 white computer/copy paper (2 pieces per group)

Tips for success: Divide class into groups of 3-5 students. During the activity portion of this video, you can PAUSE the video to allow students to catch/keep up. You may want students to create a more or less detailed model, so more or less time will be needed to complete this activity. Approx. time required: 10-30 mins.

VIDEO #2- WASTEWATER, STORMWATER, AND IMPERVIOUS SURFACES -UNDERGROUND PIPE SYSTEM DEMO 

Video: Hilary Venable from West Valley City Public Works discusses wastewater, stormwater, impervious vs. pervious surfaces. Hilary demonstrates the underground pipe system and helps us understand how things we do in our daily lives may cause stormwater pollution and what we can do to prevent water pollution. Video length 7:18.

• No supplies needed

VIDEO #3- IDENTIFYING MACRO-INVERTEBRATES & DETERMINING IF AN AQUEOUS SOLUTION IS ACIDIC OR BASIC (PH) 

Water Quality- The impact of Water Quality on Macroinvertebrates. Activity: Testing water quality for pH. Video Length:

Presenter: Hannah Murphy, SLCo Watershed Scientist

For each group, you will need to provide the following supplies:

• 3 plastic cups filled half-way with water

• 2 plastic pipette/droppers- 1 for liquid soap and 1 for lemon juice

• 2 straw stirrers

• 3 strips pH test paper

• Lemon Juice

• Liquid Soap

• You will need to provide:

• A pitcher or jug with water (to fill the 3 cups/group)

• Printed copies of the pH range Key (page needs to be printed in color—students can share)

• Printed copies of the Macro-invertebrate Key

ACTIVITY- WATER QUALITY BINGO-

Resources:

Blank Bingo Page with word list

Water Quality Bingo Words organized to cut apart to draw from bowl or other container

You will need:

-A printed copy of the Blank Bingo page with word list for each student

-Pens/pencils/markers (for students to write and mark off words, or—if you want to play several games—chips, pennies, or other reusable items that can be used to cover words that have been selected.

The SLCo Stormwater Coalition may have small prizes available at no cost, such as stickers, stress balls, etc. Inquire with Josh Mikel at jmikel@slco.org

Additional supplemental Water Quality Videos (Approx. 10 minutes each)

Stormwater Lesson Resources

The lessons and activities in the SLCo Stormwater Coalition Stormwater Curriculum are aligned with the Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards to teach 6-8th graders (or youth approximately 10-13 years of age) about stormwater, its impact on systems, the environment and humans, and how to prevent water pollution. The curriculum may be used by teachers, environmental educators, afterschool personnel, municipal staff, community volunteers, and others. The links on this page are provided for easy access of sources and resources needed to deliver the lesson plans in the curriculum. SLCo Stormwater Coalition acknowledges and appreciates the Utah Society for Environmental Education for the development of this curriculum.

Lesson 1: Understanding Stormwater

• Water Cycle Models (credit: Techengineering.org + USGS)

• Topical Map Salt Lake County

• Additional resources for Lesson 1: Understanding Stormwater

  • The Urban Water Cycle (National Geographic 4:36)

  • The Water Cycle video (Project WET 28 seconds)

  • The Water Cycle interactive video (EPA-needs flash player)

  • Interactive Water Cycle USGS website

Lesson 2: We All Live in a Watershed

• General Watershed Model

  • Find your watershed (Utah)

• Wasatch Mountains images

• Jordan River Watershed images

• Where does the Jordan River’s water come from?

• Link: Droplet’s Ride Through the Watershed

Lesson 3: What’s in the Water? Learning about Water Quality

• Macroinvertebrate Cards

• About Utah Rivers and Streams

• Macroinvertebrate Key

• The food web in riparian ecosystems- Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado example

Lesson 4:

• Site Inventory Template (EPA)

• Stormwater Walk- Site Inventory (University of Nebraska- Lincoln)

Auxiliary Activities:

• Make a simple rain gauge (Pinterest- mason jar)

• Make a simple rain gauge (2 liter bottle)