Summary: Students use crumpled paper to create a miniature watershed model that demonstrates the basic geography of a watershed, how water flows through this system, and the impact people can have on the quality of our water.

Grades: K-12 Time: 10 to 30 minutes Materials: 8 1/2" X 11" paper; one sheet for each student 3 different colors of water soluble markers several spray bottles of water

Background:

A watershed is a geographic area which water, sediments and dissolved minerals all drain into a common body of water like a stream, creek, reservoir or bay. A watershed includes all the plants, animals and people who live in it, as well as the non-living components like rocks and soil. We are all part of a watershed, and everything we do can affect the surface and ground water that runs through this system. When you create your miniature watersheds, be sure to use water soluble markers-as the markers "bleed" they demonstrate how rain moving through the watershed affects soil erosion and urban runoff.

Activity:

1. To create the watershed, crumple a piece of paper up into a tight ball. Gently open up the paper, but don't flatten it our completely. The highest points on the paper now represent mountain tops, and the lowest wrinkles represent valleys.

2. Choose one color of water soluble markers and use it to mark the highest points on the map. These points are the mountain ridge lines.

3. Choose a second color and mark the places where different bodies of water might be: creeks, rivers, lakes, etc.

4. With a third color mark four to five places to represent human settlements: housing tracts, factories, shopping centers, office buildings, schools, etc..

5. Use the spray bottles to lightly spray the finished maps. This spray represents rain falling into the watershed. Discuss any observations about how water travels through the system.

Discussion:

• What changes do you observe in the maps?
• Where does most of the 'rain' fall? What path does the water follow?
• Where does erosion occur? What happens to the human settlements-are any buildings in the way of a raging river or crumbling hillside? How does the flow of water through the watershed affect our choice of building sites?
• How does this map demonstrate the idea of watershed?

Extensions:

• Look at a topographic map of the neighborhood to see if you can locate and mark the ridge lines, creeks and rivers that make up your school's watershed. Try to determine how a heavy rainfall and run-off might impact your neighbor.
• Create an imaginary watershed. Map out the landscape, the creeks and rivers, and where you might place houses and schools.
• Discuss issues of land use and water quality. Play a simulation game that will illustrate different viewpoints on how we use water. (A good example is the activity, "Guilty or Innocent?" in Ranger Rick's Nature Scope: Pollution-Problems and Solutions.)

From the River of Words Teachers' Guide and use with permission for this project. You can visit their web site at: www.IRN.org