What's Down the Well?
Students model groundwater wellsCopyright United States Navy. Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_080208-F-7577K-063_Children_get_clean_drinking_water_from_a_well_built_by_Naval_Mobile_Construction_Battalion_(NMBC)_40_in_Shant_Abak.jpg
Students learn about physical models of groundwater and how environmental engineers determine possible sites for drinking water wells. During the activity, students create their own groundwater well models using coffee cans and wire screening. They add red food coloring to their models to see how pollutants can migrate through the groundwater into a drinking water resource.
Environmental engineers understand how water flows through the ground as they make physical models of groundwater flow to determine which aquifers can supply water to which communities. They must know how the groundwater travels so they can design pumps that can adapt to changes in water level, otherwise the wells may go dry. Environmental engineers also protect our drinking water by modeling contaminant transport in aquifers and designing ways to remove the contaminants.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Compare a model of a groundwater well with what it represents.
- Model and observe how pollution travels to groundwater wells from the surface.
- Describe how engineers decide on the placement of a drinking water well.
- Describe technology used by engineers to get water from an aquifer to the surface.