Catchment Story

Product Information

A classroom exercise for teachers of primary and lower secondary

 Materials

•  A Large Transparent (Glass) Aquarium or similar container
• 30 ( Minimum 24) small film cannisters
• Various materials to represent pollution as outlined in the list attached
• Two large glasses
• Paper towels, filters, scoops, strainers, milk cartons with soil to ensure correct disposal of polluted water and clean up

Preparation

• Label each of the plastic Tubs with a character’s name from the story.  Duplicate containers can be prepared to cater for all of the members in the group if necessary.
• Place or pour the appropriate materials into each Tub in accordance with the list.
• Distribute the labelled Tubs to people in the demonstration.  Request that they be careful and keep the container closed until they are told to open it.
• Fill the aquarium with clear, clean water and place in a prominent, visible and accessible position.
• Introduce the Catchment Story.
• Fill one large glass with water out of the aquarium, demonstrate its cleanliness and properties by pouring from one glass to another. 
• Leave the glass aside for comparison at the end of the story.

The People in the Catchment

 

Tub
Name
Position
Substance
Amount

1	Elly Trick	Power Station	Vinegar (acid rain)	1/2 Tub
2	Clive Cattleman	Cattle Farmer	Thick, muddy water	1/2 Tub
3	Percy Piggo	Piggery	Thick, muddy water	1/2 Tub
4	Freada Fancy-Farm	Corn Farm	Baking powder (fertiliser)	1/2 tsp
5	Carmel Milko	Dairy Farm	Salty water	1/2 tsp salt/water
6	Strawberry Milko	Dairy Farm	Soil	1/2 Tub
7	Dusty Boots	Quarry	Vinegar (acidic groundwater)	1/2 Tub
8	Wanda Weekender	Hobby Farm	Yellow water/toilet paper	1 Tub yellow water and toilet paper
9	Fred Fresh-air	Hobby Farm	Yellow water/toilet paper	1 Tub yellow water and toilet paper
10	Ronald Relax-a-bit	Hobby Farm	Yellow water/toilet paper	1 Tub yellow water and toilet paper
11	Cameron Caught-a-few	Fisherman	Nylon string	Tangle of line
12	Lorraine Leak-a-little	Water Skier	Vegetable oil	1/4 tsp
13	Barbie Que	Picknicker	Litter	Litter
14	Gary Guzzler	Tour Boat	Litter	(bottles, ring-pulls, lids)
15	Arthur Average	Home owner	Soil	1/2 tsp
16	Nev Newly-married	Home owner	Soil	1/2 tsp
17	Gerty Green-thumb	Gardener	Baking soda (pesticide)	1/2 tsp
18	Morry Mow-a-bit	Mower	Grass clippings	1/2 tsp
19	Danielle Dog-owner	Dog Owner	Thick, muddy water	½ Tub
20	Harold Hard-worker	Motorist	Vegetable oil + mud	1/2 Tub
21	Betty Busy-all-day	Motorist	Vineger (acid rain)	1/2 Tub
22	Gerald Greedy	Industry	Detergent	1 drop in full tub of water
23	Damien Demolisher	Tannery	Water/ food colouring	5 drops in full tub of water
24	Eileen Everyone	Community	Mixture of everything	paint, band-aids, baking soda

 

 
Introduction

Today I am going to tell you a little story about a very important part of our environment - the river. The story talks about how each of us, and everyone else along the river, affects the river’s health.

Not a real River. This tank is quite different to a real river, which is hard to recreate. For starters, a real river is not totally transparent, they often have little bits floating around, or might be a slightly yellow/brown colour. But this does not mean it is unhealthy.

What are some differences between this and a real river?

I have given you a small container with a name on it.  When I mention that name in the story I want you to come up and empty what is in the container into the river catchment (the aquarium).

Before I start the story about our river and its catchment, let us have a think about what a catchment is.

Ask for suggestions and then demonstrate by getting everyone to cup hands and pretend that they are standing in the rain.  What would happen?  This is a small example of a catchment and the Earth’s surface is divided into lots of bowls just like that, with a river in the bottom of each bowl.

A catchment includes a river and all of the creeks, streams and other smaller rivers that run into it.  But the catchment also includes the land around these waterways.  This means that although you and I may live 20 minutes or even more from the river, we are still part of the catchment.  Even from this distance we can have an effect on the quality of the water in the river.

Can anyone tell me some ways in which we are linked to the river from our houses and schools?

 

Stormwater Drains 

Do you agree that stormwater drains are linked directly to our water ways?  There are no filters in the stormwater drains and they do not go through the sewerage plant. This means that whatever we drop into the stormwater drain, whether it be litter, paint or detergent, it goes straight to our local waterway.

 

Sewerage systems. 

Everything we put down our toilet or sink goes to sewerage system, where most of it can be treated. Some however, such as fat, detergents, chemicals, are difficult to remove from the water before it is sent into our waterways and ocean.  This is bad news for our fish and water plants.

Streets

If we leave litter or oil from the family car on the road or in gutters it can either be washed into the stormwater drain and then into the river, or it can be washed by rain down the street into the river.

So these are just three ways in which our houses and schools are linked to the river.  Think about farms, parks and boats on the river.

 

Now let us begin our story

You should have a container with a name on it, remember that when you hear your name, come out to the front here and empty your container into the river.

(Fill one large glass with water out of the aquarium, demonstrate its cleanliness and properties by pouring from one glass to another.  Leave the glass aside for comparison at the end of the story.)

Our river begins way up in the mountains and flows down and around hills and through farms, small urban areas and the city. Everybody has an effect on the river all the way along.

We will follow some clean droplets which just fell from the sky and entered our river at the very top in the mountains all the way along the river until it reaches the sea.  As the water travels down the mountain it arrives at a valley where Elly Trick runs a power station. The power station produces the electricity for the region and burns large quantities of coal and can release pollutant gases into the air.  These pollutants combine with moisture in the atmosphere to produce acids.  Rainfall carries these acids back to the earth’s surface and can pollute the very source of the river.

Has everyone heard of acid rain?

As the water goes down the slopes it gathers speed and enters into farming country.  Within the farming community live, Clive Cattleman, Percy Piggo, Freada Fancy-Farm and Carmel Milko. 

Each farmer owns a different type of farm, for example, a cattle farm, a piggery, a corn farm and a milk dairy.  As the water passes Clive Cattleman’s cattle farm the cattle erode the river bank as they walk down to the water to drink. This mud and soil washes into the water.  Passing Percy Piggo’s piggery some of the pigs’ poo is washed into a drainage pipe and then into the river. 

By Freada Fancy-Farm’s a huge amount of water has been taken out of the river to water crops. This makes the river’s water level very low, which is bad for our fish and water plants.  When the water drains back into the river it contains fertiliser and pesticides that has washed off Freada’s  corn crop.

As the water passes Carmel and Strawberry Milko’s milk dairy, soil is washed into the river and the water becomes salty.  This is because trees have been removed and they no longer trap the soil before it goes into the river.  The salt is present also because the trees have been removed.  The water table has risen beneath the soil and as it has risen it has brought up salt. This then makes it difficult to grow any new plants. 

Salt in the water can also harm the freshwater animals living in the river.

The water is now beginning to feel a bit queasy and wonders what is in store just around the corner at the quarry where Dusty Boots digs for minerals.  The quarry pumps water out of the river to clean its equipment and flush out some of the waste.  This waste includes acids which all drain back into the river.

Why Acids?

Slowly the river starts to wind its way through the outskirts of a major town.  Out here there are a number of hobby farms.  People like Wanda Weekender, Fred Fresh-Air and Ronald Relax-a-bit all come out to the country on the weekend to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  Their small houses, on these farms, are not connected to the sewerage system like they are in the city, they have septic tanks.  Sometimes when they stay for longer than expected, or bring friends along, the septic tank overflows and raw or untreated sewage enters the water.

Look how our once clean water now looks and smells.

But the journey isn’t over yet.  Coming up around the bend there are people using the river for recreation.  

Cameron Caught-a-Few is fishing off the river bank.  Unfortunately his line gets caught around a rock and is left in the water, where it may get wrapped around a fish or platypus.  You see this happening to ocean animals all the time on TV, but it happens to freshwater animals too.

Also on the river there are some people water-skiing. Out water skiing is Lorraine Leak-a-Little.  Lorraine has not been maintaining her ski boat and, as a result, some oil is leaking from the boat directly into the river.

Barbie Que is having a picnic with her family in the park around the next bend.  They are having a lovely time, playing cricket, relaxing and having a chat.  Then suddenly, a big gust of wind comes along and blows their litter into the water.  There are plastic bags which fish could swim into, plastic rings from the milk containers which birds can get stuck around their necks, and bottles which fish and other small creatures like frogs may swim into and may not be able to get out of.  

Not only is this harmful to the animals, but what do you think about the appearance of the water?  (disgusting?)

Further down the river there is a boat taking tourists on a tour of the river.  Beer is provided and people like 
Gary Guzzler aren’t using the bins to dispose of their bottles, and are just throwing them overboard.

The river now begins to wind through the suburban part of town where Arthur Average and Nev Newly-Married  are each paying off their homes in a new subdivision which is being developed.  Many of the trees have been removed and when it rains the top layer of soil is eroded and adds to silting up the river.  This makes the water look dirty and cloudy and can harm plant and animal life in the river.  Most houses like Gerty Green-Thumb’s in the developed parts of the town have a garden.  To keep the insects away (most of which are quite good for the garden), Gerty uses a range of pesticides.  When she has completed her spraying she turns on the sprinkler to water the plants and the pesticide washes off into the stormwater drains and then enters the river. 

There are lots of good insects that live in and around the river and insecticides kill them too.

Gerty’s neighbour, Morry Mow-a-Bit, has just finished mowing his lawn for the third time this month and rather than putting the grass clippings on the garden for mulch, he puts them down the stormwater drain where they are washed into the river.

Also in the area lives  Danielle Dog-Lover.  Danielle, like a good dog owner should, takes her dog for a walk every second day.  The dog however often does his business during the walk.  This waste is washed into the stormwater drain when it rains and into the river. 

This is untreated sewage.

People like Harold Hard-Worker and Betty Busy-all-Day are now beginning to drive home from work.  The roads are choked with traffic.  Oil drips out of Harold and Betty’s cars and into the stormwater drains.  Sometimes they have to brake suddenly and leave pieces of rubber from their tyres on the road, which are then washed by rain down the stormwater drain and into the river.

Our poor water is really staring to look very sick now!!

But it hasn’t reached the mouth of the river yet, it is still in our catchment.

Further down the river there is some industry.  Gerald Greedy is one of the industry owners who uses detergents to keep his equipment clean.  Gerald sometimes hoses out the factory allowing the water and detergent to wash into a gutter which flows to the river.  In the detergent there are phosphates which can cause an algal bloom in the river.

Some algae is poisonous to humans and other animals. 

When the algae dies and begins to rot it uses up oxygen which animals in the water rely on and they may suffocate as a result.

Redevelopment is occurring on the opposite side of the river.  Damien Demolisher found a few drums of something that he wasn’t sure of.  He couldn’t sell it and he would have to pay to take it to landfill or to a hazardous waste dump so he emptied it into the river.  The waste was chemicals from an old tannery. 

Chemicals can be very harmful to the animals and plants living in the river.

The mouth of the river is just ahead.  There is just one more pollutant to enter our now very dirty and unhealthy water - sewage.  The sewage from our and  Eileen Everyone’s homes enters the river just near the mouth.  The sewage is treated but things like our detergents, paints, chemicals and cooking oils are not removed in the sewerage treatment process.   This is all added to our water before it reaches the sea.

Now entering the sea, our once clean water is full of oils, chemicals, litter and sewage and it looks extremely unhealthy. 

What do think of the water now?

(Take a glass full and pretend to drink.  Compare it to the original water in the glass.)

 I think it is a disgrace.  What do you think?  Look at what we have done to the water in our river.  Look at how dirty it looks and it doesn’t smell too good either.

Could you imagine being a fish and living in that water or a plant trying to grow?

(If possible give people a closer look.)

It is terrible but this is what happens to the water everyday in our rivers.

Conclusion

Can anyone tell me some ways by which we might be able to reduce our impact on our river?

Here are some suggestions:

• Compost
• Don’t use chemicals
• If you have to use chemicals, use less toxic ones and dispose of them in the right way, this may mean throwing them in a safe place in the garden rather than down the sink.
• Don’t put rubbish in the toilet or down the sink - it can clog up the sewage system.
• Wash dishes in the sink rather than in the dishwasher, this will reduce the amount of water and detergent being sent to the sewer and then the river.
• Clean up your dog’s business when you take it for a walk.
• Keep waste out of the stormwater drain - litter, grass clippings.
• Plant trees along the river bank to reduce the amount of soil being washed into the river.
• Pick up litter when we see it so that it doesn’t go down the stormwater drain and into the river.
• Try companion planting to deter pests.  Most insects, however, are helpful to the plants.
• If you see people smoking make sure they don’t drop their butts on the ground as these wash into stormwater drains and into the river.  Fish then swallow them and become poisoned by the cigarettes.

There are so many things we can do to reduce the pollution in the river and most of them are so easy.

The Finale

Even if you don’t mention it, someone is sure to ask "What are you going to do with the water now?" 

The answer is "behave like a sewerage treatment plant and do the best that I can to clean and dispose of the water safely." 

There will be no shortage of volunteers for this gruesome job:

• Strain and filter the solids. 
• Remove the oils by decanting and then absorbing with paper towels or milk carton filled with sawdust. 
• Dispose of the water to sewer or to a safe place in order to minimise harm to the environment.