For Teachers: Information about Legacy Cycle C, People Need Water

• Challenge 1: Westward H2O!
• Challenge 2: Boating and Swimming and Damming, Oh My...
• Challenge 3: Putting Some Blue In Your Green School

Challenge 1: Westward H2O!

Human populations have historically concentrated at sites with available water that are advantageous for commerce, food production, and other aspects of civilization.  Around 1845 German immigrants migrated to New Braunfels, Texas, took advantage of the numerous artesian springs and reliable water power afforded by Comal Springs, as well as the community's position on the road between Austin and San Antonio, to establish a settlement that soon became the commercial center of a growing agricultural area.  Today, the region flourishes with many recreational opportunities on the springs and rivers for residents and visitors.

Enduring Understandings

• Earth is our home; its resources mold civilizations, drive human exploration, and inspire human endeavors (Earth Science Literary Principle 7.1).
• Human populations have historically concentrated at sites that are geologically advantageous to commerce, food production, and other aspects of civilization (Earth Science Literary Principle 7.2).
• Water resources are distributed unevenly around the planet.  Their distribution is a result of how and where geologic processes have occurred in the past, and has extremely important social, economic, and political implications (Earth Science Literary Principle 7.4).
• Water resources are essential for agriculture, manufacturing, energy production, and building (Earth Science Literary Principle 7.5).

Essential questions for students to answer in order to address the Enduring Understandings are listed in the “Generate Ideas” section.

References and Resources

1. Crowe, J.C. and Sharp, J.M., 1997, Hydrogeologic delineation of habitats for endangered species — The Comal Springs/River System: Environmental Geology, v. 30, p. 17-28.
2. New Braunfels and Comal County: Handbook of Texas Online, accessed October 2016.
3. Textile industry: Handbook of Texas Online, accessed October 2016.
4. New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung: Handbook of Texas Online, accessed October 2016.
5. Comal Springs: Edwards Aquifer.
6. Spring: Encyclopedia of Earth.
7. Texas Water Development Board, 1975, Major and historical springs of Texas, Report 189.  Students should focus on Figures 2,18, and 58.
8. Texas Water Development Board, 2017, Water For Texas.
9. Texas Water Development Board, 1979, Geohydrology of Comal, San Marcos, and Hueco Springs.  Students should focus on Figures 12 and 13.

Suggested Rubric.  Teachers may develop their own rubrics, using this one as a guide.

• Highly Proficient.  Sophisticated, innovative, comprehensive, and accurate; contains all required products; addresses the enduring questions in an insightful, illuminating, creative manner; demonstrates sensitivity, maturity, and respect for cultural elements.
• Capable.  Systematic, skilled, and accurate; contains all required products; addresses the enduring questions in a thoughtful, considered, and mature manner and demonstrates a thorough understanding of the concepts.
• Adequate.  Adequate and clear; contains all required products; acceptable treatment of the enduring questions but without a thorough understanding of the concepts; lacks perspective and sensitivity.
• Limited.  Developed, but incomplete; unreflective; contains inaccuracies and misconceptions; limited success in addressing the enduring questions; limited understanding of the concepts.
• Inadequate.  Naïve and superficial; incomplete; contains inaccurate material; simplistic, uncritical attempt to address the enduring questions; poor understanding of the concepts; immature treatment of cultural elements.

Challenge 2: Boating and Swimming and Damming, Oh My...

The 862-mile (1,387-kilometer) long Colorado River originates near Lubbock, Texas, and flows southeast through the Texas Hill Country to the Gulf of Mexico at Matagorda Bay.  There are 11 major reservoirs along the Colorado River, including the six that make up the Highland Lakes System (Lake Buchanan, Lake LBJ, Inks Lake, Lake Marble Falls, Lake Travis, Lake Austin, and Lady Bird Lake).  The river with its reservoirs is an important source of water for farming, cities, and electrical power production.  The reservoirs are important for flood control, water conservation and storage, and recreation.  Colorado River water is also used to cool the South Texas Nuclear Project near Bay City.

Enduring Understandings

• Earth is our home; its resources mold civilizations, drive human exploration, and inspire human endeavors (Earth Science Literary Principle 7.1).
• Human populations have historically concentrated at sites that are geologically advantageous to commerce, food production, and other aspects of civilization (Earth Science Literary Principle 7.2).
• Water resources are distributed unevenly around the planet.  Their distribution is a result of how and where geologic processes have occurred in the past, and has extremely important social, economic, and political implications (Earth Science Literary Principle 7.4).
• Water resources are essential for agriculture, manufacturing, energy production, and building (Earth Science Literary Principle 7.5).
• Natural hazards result from natural Earth processes.  These hazards include floods and droughts(Earth Science Literary Principle 8.1).
• Humans affect the quality, availability, and distribution of Earth’s water through the modification of streams, lakes, and groundwater.  Engineered structures such as canals, dams, and levees significantly alter water and sediment distribution (Earth Science Literary Principle 9.4).

Essential questions for students to answer in order to address the Enduring Understandings are listed in the “Generate Ideas” section.

References and Resources

• Texas Water Development Board, 2017, Water for Texas.
• Texas Water Development Board, Water Data Interactive (WDI).

Challenge 3: Put Some Blue In Your Green School

Put Some Blue In Your Green School is a service-learning project to help schools become efficient water users and to raise awareness about the need for good stewardship practices for water resources within the community.  The primary reason to perform a water use audit is to assess how much water is being used and how much water can be saved.  The benefits of a water use audit include reduced water use, money saved, improved landscape appearance, reduced runoff, reduced fertilizer and chemical requirements, improved system performance, environmental stewardship, and energy saved.

Enduring Understandings

• Natural resources are limited.  Earth's natural resources provide the foundation for all of human society's physical needs.  Most are nonrenewable on human time scales, and many will run critically low in the near future (Earth Science Literacy Principle 7.3).
• Water resources are distributed unevenly around the planet. Their distribution is a result of how and where geologic processes have occurred in the past, and has extremely important social, economic, and political implications (Earth Science Literary Principle 7.4).
• Human activities significantly change the rates of many of the Earth's surface processes.  Humankind has become a geologic agent that must be taken into account equally with natural processes in any attempt to understand the workings of Earth's systems.  As human populations and per capita consumption of natural resources increase, so do our impacts on Earth's systems (Earth Science Literacy Principle 9.1).
• An Earth-science-literate public, informed by current and accurate scientific understanding of the Earth, is critical to the promotion of good stewardship, sound policy, and international cooperation.  Earth science education is important for individuals of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities (Earth Science Literacy Principle 9.9).

Background

Water is a finite resource that requires careful and proactive management; the era of plentiful and inexpensive water is ending. Water conservation, sound management strategies, and adequate investment in a range of solutions are essential to meet the water demands of Texas' growing population, while protecting our natural resources.

Based on current population projections in the 2012 Texas State Water Plan, about 85 percent of the state’s projected population will not have enough water by 2060 in drought conditions.  Water conservation is critical for meeting the state's long-term water needs.  While Texas is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, water is sometimes in short supply, particularly during times of drought.  Texas has a long history of droughts, and there are more to come.  Texas also has the fastest-growing population in the country.  In 1950, only 8 million people lived in Texas.  In 2000, nearly 21 million people called Texas home.  In 2060, it is estimated that around 46 million people will reside in Texas.  A growing population, combined with Texas’ vulnerability to drought, makes water supply a crucial issue.

What can you do to help?  State and local governments make recommendations to the legislature and implement proposals to help ease the demand on our water resources.  Grass roots efforts like conservation, reusing water, and capturing rainwater can also help ease those demands.

Conservation is often the most cost-effective, environmentally benign source of new water.  You could save 20 gallons a day by fixing leaks and installing water-efficient fixtures.  Outdoor water use can account for 50 percentage of water consumption during the summer.  Auditing the landscape, planting native plants, and using water more efficiently can greatly reduce your over all water consumption.

“For many of us, water simply flows from a faucet and we think little about it beyond its immediate point of contact.”

-Sandra Postel

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

-Margaret Mead

Resources

• Students learn while helping solve real needs in their community.  The National Youth Leadership Council says that, "Service learning is an approach to teaching and learning in which students use academic knowledge and skills to address genuine community needs."

Models for Designing and Implementing A Service Learning Project

1. The LEADERS Model of Sevice-Learning emphasized youth voice and curriculum integration in project design.
2. The 8 Block Model provides a structure for educators to design and implement a service learning project.  The 8 Block model has been adapted in the table below for the Put Some Blue In Your Green School challenge.  Note: This activity is designed as a framework to provide guidance and resources for the instructor.  It is expected that the activity will be adapted to serve the needs of the students and community partners.

8 Block Model for Put Some Blue In Your Green School

Texas Water Development Board Conservation Tips

• Indoor Water Conservation Tips
• Outdoor Water Conservation Tips
• Agricultural Water Conservation Tips
• Industrial Water Conservation Tips

Texas Water Development Board offers free or low-cost conservation literature for schools.

Additional Comments On The 7-Step School Water Audit Activity

Students need to familiarize themselves with area, liquid, and volume conversion rates, especially converting metric units to gallons and to square and/or acre feet, and metric units to inches and feet.  Students also need to familiarize themselves with area measurements of a square, rectangle, and circle.

Questions that are commonly asked throughout this activity are, (1) How many cubic feet or acre feet were measured?  (2) How many gallons are in an acre foot or cubic foot? (3) How many gallons are in a Kgal or Mgal?  (3) What is the area of the square or circular catch can opening? and (4) What is the total average of the data collected?

Formulas

Rate of flow = volume ÷ time

Gallons per minute (gpm) = (volume ÷ seconds recorded) x (60 seconds ÷ 1 minute) x (1 gallon ÷ conversion factor)

For example, it took Bridget 12 seconds to fill a one quart container.  How many gallons per minute flows from the faucet?  Using the gpm formula, (1 qt ÷ 12 sec) x (60 sec ÷ 1 min) x (1 gallon ÷ 4 qts), the answer is 1.25 gallons per minute flows from the faucet.

Gallons per day (gpd) = (volume ÷ minutes recorded) x (1 gallon ÷ conversion factor) x (60 minutes ÷ 1 hour) x (24 hours ÷ 1 day)

For example; in one minute, Linda measured 1.25 ounces from a leaking showerhead.  How many gallons of water are wasted in a day?  Using the gpd formula, (1.25 oz ÷ 1 min) x (1 gal ÷ 128 oz) x (60 min ÷ 1 hr) x (24 hrs ÷ 1 day), the answer is 14 gallons a day are wasted from the leaking showerhead.

References and Resources

1. Council for Environmental Education, WET in The City, Water Education for Teachers.
2. Brown, C. and others, 2008, Watersmart Guidebook – A Water-Use Efficiency Plan Review Guide for New Businesses: Oakland, California, East Bay Municipal Utility District.
3. Taylor, G.R., and others, 1999, Athletic Fields and Water Conservation: College Station, Texas A&M University, Texas Agricultural Extension Service.

Additional Resources

1. American Water Works Association, kids page.
2. National Wildlife Federation, Environmental Defense, and Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club collaborative.
3. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Water Conservation.

Suggested Rubric.  Teachers may develop their own rubrics, using this one as a guide.

• Highly Proficient.  Sophisticated, innovative, comprehensive, and accurate; contains all required products; addresses the enduring questions in an insightful, illuminating, creative manner; demonstrates sensitivity, maturity, and respect for cultural elements.
• Capable.  Systematic, skilled, and accurate; contains all required products; addresses the enduring questions in a thoughtful, considered, and mature manner and demonstrates a thorough understanding of the concepts.
• Adequate.  Adequate and clear; contains all required products; acceptable treatment of the enduring questions but without a thorough understanding of the concepts; lacks perspective and sensitivity.
• Limited.  Developed, but incomplete; unreflective; contains inaccuracies and misconceptions; limited success in addressing the enduring questions; limited understanding of the concepts.
• Inadequate.  Naïve and superficial; incomplete; contains inaccurate material; simplistic, uncritical attempt to address the enduring questions; poor understanding of the concepts; immature treatment of cultural elements.