These Units provide an opportunity for classroom educators to connect their students to one of the most fundamental elements in all living things-water and to understand their role and responsibility to protect this shared resource.
Together student and teacher will grow to understand the complexities and responsibilities associated with accessing it, using it, managing it, cleaning it up and returning it to our waterways undiminished for today, for tomorrow and for future generations.
Water in Our World
WHAT IS THE VALUE OF WATER?
First we (you and your students) need to develop an understanding of the value of water in our lives and the way the natural water cycle (the hydrologic cycle) functions. It is important to embrace this basic level of appreciation before exploring subsequent thematic units, which address the growth of cities, and how people adapted and innovated to meet the challenge of providing clean water as the population grew.
Drinking Water and You
WHAT DOES IT TAKE FOR US TO DRINK A GLASS OF FRESH, CLEAN, DELICIOUS WATER?
Students will learn about the urban water use cycle and how this cycle is both different and similar to the natural water cycle. They will explore their individual connection to it as well as the human impact on it. They will develop a basic understanding of safe and reliable urban water systems, infrastructure and management of drinking water (supply). Prominent cities like Philadelphia approached access to a clean drinking water supply as a civic responsibility for the public good.
Down the Drain
WHAT BECAME OF PHILADELPHIA’S NATURAL STREAMS AND VALLEYS?
Just as cities developed a collective drinking water supply system to ensure the public health of its citizens, they also developed ways to collect and dispose of its waste or “used” water. Students will discover that it was no small task to engineer an effective system of drains and pipes to carry human and industrial waste away from where people lived.
Land and Water
CAN WE CREATE SUSTAINABLE URBAN DESIGN SOLUTIONS THAT WORK WITH THE NATURAL WATER CYCLE?
Homes, markets, factories, parks and roadways – these are many of the ways land has been transformed to create our cities and affect water quality. Students will learn how the relationship of land to water is an ecological balancing act, both for humans and for the natural environment. At many points throughout the last two centuries, the balance has been tipped, equilibrium lost. They will discover not only the consequence of pollution (making people sick), but also how public health safety was restored.
Playing a Part
CAN WE CREATE A HEALTHY, BEAUTIFUL AND SUSTAINABLE PHILADELPHIA?
The greatest threat to our water resources in the 21st century is created by stormwater runoff. As students have learned by now, past solutions and innovations for the collective good have moved the story forward. Next they will explore how individuals and communities can play a key role in shaping the future environmental health and well-being of their city. Words like “sustainability”, “greening” and “stewardship” will take on greater meaning – a vocabulary that becomes an integral part of our story.
