Station 3: Watershed

Class Discussion:

Where does stormwater flow after a rainstorm?

Stormwater will flow off roads and buildings into a storm drains, which often lead directly to streams or rivers. Some stormwater will soak into the ground.

What term is used to describe water that runs along the ground towards a larger body of water?

Runoff or Stormwater Runoff is the water that flows over the ground surface

The Oconee River joins the Altamaha River in Southern Georgia before the water gets to the Atlantic Ocean. A watershed is an area of land where all of the water flows toward one area.

We all live in a watershed. Which watershed do you think we live in?

Hint: Which river runs through the wetlands?

The Upper Oconee Watershed

What would happen if we threw trash in the Oconee River?

It could become caught in any of the streams, lakes, riverbanks, or wetlands where the Oconee River flows. It could also end up in the Atlantic Ocean!

What are things that could cause water pollution?

There are many things that can cause water pollution:

• Throwing trash or littering
• Leaking chemicals such as oil, gasoline, or yard chemicals
• Leaking sewage or pet waste
• Too much dirt loosened from construction
• Too much fertilizer from farms
• Other chemicals or waste from factories or industry

Class Activity: Water Words

Adapted from Project WILD: Aquatic WILD

Materials: writing materials, small whiteboard and marker, river copy pages (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0OI2sM2sfzjQ1hTNGVTWGd5Qms)

• Ask students to think about ways that they have used water today; ideas may include drinking water, showering, washing hands, flushing a toilet, etc.
  • What are other ways that people use water that are not as obvious as using plumbing?
    • To wash clothes, to water plants and animals that we eat, to water plants in our yard, for pets to drink, etc.
• Ask students to think of as many words that have something to do with water as possible!
  • Students can write their words on blank paper, or the instructor can record words on a small whiteboard
  • Think of words that describe water or how it is important to people and wildlife
• Use the small whiteboard to create Word Trees using words they have written (see example below)
• After creating several word trees, have students look at them and create definitions of water in their own words, or poetic definitions
  • Have students record their definitions of water on the river copy pages, which can be arranged by numerical order to form a river (two of same number stand face to face)