1. 5th Grade Water in San Diego
I work for San Diego Coastkeeper, our job is to keep the ocean clean. Since the ocean is such a big place, it’s a really big job. We do lots of different things to keep the ocean clean and Project SWELL is one of the most important! Project SWELL are the lessons we teach students like you about what makes the ocean dirty and how we can all help.
Contact: Sandra J. Lebrón #125
Education Manager
San Diego Coastkeeper®

2. What percent of the earth is water? About 70%
Where is most of that water? The ocean.
What percentage of water on our planet is salt water like we’d find in the ocean or seas? 97%
Where do we find freshwater on our planet? Rivers, lakes, glaciers, streams, etc.
Where is most of our freshwater? Frozen in glaciers and ice caps, about 2.4% of global water.
Can we drink that water? No, it’s frozen.
Where do we find liquid freshwater on our planet? Rivers, lakes, streams, yes but actually most of our liquid freshwater is trapped underground where we can’t access it.
When you separate out the water on Earth, only tiny tiny percentage of that water is freshwater that we can access and use for all of the things we need water for.
Even though we aren’t technically in a drought anymore, we need to take care of the water we do have because there’s so little we can use for drinking, cooking, cleaning, etc.

3. Who can tell me where the water cycle begins
Who can tell me where the water cycle begins? Trick question, there is no beginning. It’s a cycle. Water keeps moving through the water cycle indefinitely. In fact, the water on our planet now is the same water that’s been here since the dinosaurs were here, it’s just been moving through this cycle over and over.
Highlight parts of the water cycle. Condensation, Precipitation, Runoff, Evaporation.
Highlight Runoff in particular, that will come back into play when talking about urban runoff.
So this was a brief, simplistic overview of the water cycle, in reality, it’s a little more complicated…

4. You can see the steps we just talked about; evaporation, condensation, precipitation, runoff, etc. But you can also see that it doesn’t necessarily move in a nice neat circle. Water is everywhere. It’s moving through the water cycle constantly and is in different stages at all times.

5. Where Does San Diego Drinking Water Come From?
5th Grade Water in San Diego
Where Does San Diego Drinking Water Come From?
So now let’s think about water in San Diego specifically. Where does our drinking water come from?

6. 5th Grade Water in San Diego
San Diego Water Story
Local:
Imported:
Rivers
Colorado River – Utah, Wyoming, or Colorado
Rain
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
15% of our water comes from local sources. Rain filling up our rivers and reservoirs.
85% of our water is imported. We bring it here from other places. Specifically the Colorado River and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
We don’t get a lot of rain here but we do have a lot of people. In fact, we don’t get enough rain to provide water for all the people who live here. So we have to bring it in from other places.

7. San Diego’s Water Supply
The Colorado River and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are not close to San Diego.
This map shows how we get that water here, through aqueducts. These orange lines show the aqueducts and you can see they make pit-stops at some reservoirs on the way, dropping off water in various places.
San Diego’s Water Supply

8. 5th Grade Water in San Diego
Aqueducts
This is what aqueducts actually look like.

9. Now, transporting water through aqueducts is helpful but it takes a lot of energy! Sometimes the water can travel over 1,000 miles before it gets here!
And remember, 85% of the water we use here is from other places.

10. San Diego River River Otay River Sweetwater
Here are some of our local sources, three rivers in the San Diego area. They can help bring water to local reservoirs before reaching the ocean. Have you ever seen one of these rivers? Ever swam in one? Probably not! They are usually quite low because…

11. We don’t get a lot of precipitation here
We don’t get a lot of precipitation here! This map shows the average annual precipitation in California. Where is San Diego? What is our average annual precipitation?

12. For the past few years, we’ve gotten even less rain than usual
For the past few years, we’ve gotten even less rain than usual. That means our reservoirs are not full.
Not only are our rivers pretty dry and our reservoirs less than have full, there’s something else that happens with our rainwater here in SD…

13. 5th Grade Water in San Diego
This photo shows the number one way pollution gets to the ocean here in San Diego.
There’s a lot of different things going on in this picture so I want you to take a minute and really look at it. Read what you can, look at all parts, make some observations. Then I want to hear something you observed. Whether it’s something you think is interesting or important or just something you see.
What do you notice?
Let students volunteer observations and comment/expand on each to highlight important things
Most important take-aways:
Storm Drains are intended for rain ONLY. Because of this, water that goes through storm drains does not (and in theory shouldn’t need to be) get cleaned. When things that don’t belong (pollution like trash, oil/gas, and pet waste) get in and move through storm drains, it brings that pollution to the ocean.
Sewer System is totally different. Sewer System is water we use inside. This water does get cleaned before it goes to the ocean.
When it rains in SD, pollutants move through storm drains (and urban runoff), and they end up in the ocean. To the extent that it is unsafe to swim for 72hours after we get rain.

14. Storm Drains are for the Rain
Here are a couple photos of what a storm drain looks like outside.
Now we’re going to do a little experiment. You guys are going to build a watershed model and we’ll see what happens when we put water in it.
Storm Drains are for the Rain

15. 5th Grade Water in San Diego
Purpose:
Students will understand what they can do to help prevent storm drain pollution.
Tell students that they will do an activity to demonstrate what happens when things enter the storm drain system.
Help students set up their models.
Materials for each group:
6-8 paint trays
Eye dropper (or spray bottle, water pitcher or cup to simulate rain)
1L container of water
Pollutants’ Options for students: 4-color food coloring to represent pollutants
yellow=oil
green=pesticides/fertilizer
red=chemicals
Blue+green=pet waste
garbage=plastic/paper trash
2 Cotton balls
Getting Ready:
Students used paint tray and recyclable materials to demonstrate how pollution travel from storm drain to the ocean.
The top part of the paint tray will substitute the cafeteria trays (=street),
The middle (sides/ channels) will substitute the basin (=storm drain) and you can use a piece of a straw tape to the paint tray. It work better if you tape it in between the channels of the tray (horizontally), and in direction to the deep part of the tray.
The bottom/ deeper part of the paint tray represents the ocean.
Guiding the Activity
1. Tell students that they will do an activity to demonstrate what happens when things enter the storm drain system.
2. Help students set up their models.
3. Ask students to choose the pollutants they think might enter the storm drains during a rainstorm or when the sprinklers come on (or when people litter). They should add the paper or plastic on the street (top of paint tray), for the food coloring please give them 1 cotton ball and add the food coloring to the cotton ball.
4. Ask students what they think might happen when it rain on the street (top part of paint trays).
5. Let the students make it rain using the eye dropper or spray bottles.
6. Ask them to describe what the water in their storm drain looks like.
7. Ask students where they think water in the storm drains ends up.
8. Ask students if they think water in the storm drains is treated (clean) like the sewer water was.
9. Show them the next slide with photo of storm drains discharging into the water.
10. How you can prevent some of the problems of storm drain pollution.

16. Solutions to Pollution
Some solutions!
Pick up trash when you see it.
Throw your trash away when you have it.
Recycle, but first, reduce and reuse!
Recycled materials art projects!
Posting signs to remind people not to litter (and telling your friends).
Creating less waste by using reusable bags and water bottles.

17. 5th Grade Earth Science: Water in San Diego Post-Survey
1. What is one simple thing people can do to prevent storm drain pollution?
2. Most of the water in San Diego used for drinking, cooking, and cleaning comes from ___________ ____________________. Choose the best answer.
a) local sources
b) imported sources
c) the ocean
d) underground storage
3. When water goes down the storm drains in San Diego, what happens to that water? Choose the best answer.
a) The water is cleaned and then recycled.
b) The water is heated and then goes in the ocean.
c) The water is partly cleaned and then put in the ocean.
d) The water is not cleaned and then put in the ocean. .

18. 5th Grade Earth Science: Water in San Diego Post-Survey
4. When water from inside homes, schools, and businesses goes down the drain and enters the sewer system in San Diego, what happens to that water? Choose the best answer.
a) The water is cleaned and then recycled or put into the ocean.
b) The water is heated and then goes in the ocean.
c) The water is pumped into the bay
d) The water is not cleaned and then put in the ocean.
Free Response:
You are walking around your schoolyard. You notice that there is a lot of litter on the ground. Why is this a problem for water? Describe what happens to the litter and what you could do to fix the problem.

19. Thanks! Partners/ Supporters
Many business leaders support Project SWELL. Here are a few of our current program funders. Special thanks to The Stiefel Behner Foundation for making SDUSD classroom visits possible!

20. Science Kits Kindergarten Life Sciences: Clean Water in San Diego
1st Grade Life and Earth Science: Water Everywhere
2nd Grade Earth Science: Water and Earth Materials in San Diego
4th Grade Investigation: Water and San Diego Ecosystems
5th Grade Earth Science: Water in San Diego
6th Grade Earth Science: Watersheds in San Diego
Get a SWELL free science kit.