The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers is heavily involved in maintaining the nation's water supply. The Corps' first project was an aqueduct built in the 1850s to serve Washington, DC. It is still in use and maintained by the Corps today. The Corps has built many reservoirs, dams, levees, and other water projects across the United States. A 1958 law permits local governments and industries to tap into these water supplies. Today, Corps reservoirs serve over ten million people in 115 cities. The regulations the Corps imposes on such uses have much to do with maintaining the nation's water quality.]]>
Water quality regulations: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- an intricate link in the water issues of the U.S.
Science teachers are always on the lookout for a good water quality lesson. There are many sources of water quality lessons on the Internet. Here are a few of the better ones.]]>
The internet has a wealth of great information teachers can use. Water quality is such an important subject that it would benefit students and the planet if teachers offered a lesson on it.
The Willimantic River is a tributary of the Shetucket River, approximately 25 mi (40 km) long in northeastern Connecticut in the New England region of the United States. Certain stretches of the river are quite fast-flowing, and this feature led to construction of textile mills and supporting towns all along the Willimantic River. The pollution these mills and concentrations of humans created became a serious problem.]]>
How the Clean Mater Act affected the Willimantic River in Connecticut is a success story that can be repeated around the world.
A United Kingdom government advisor has suggested that bottled water be relegated to the same status as cigarette smoking. The environmental concerns that come with bottled water, as well as the high cost, are two of the reasons that are cited for this campaign against bottled water. The thought behind this is to make it less fashionable, so people will feel that it is "wrong" to drink bottle water, much the same as it is with cigarette smoking. This trend toward making it unfashionable can help to decrease the trend in drinking bottled water and help the environment. What are some of the concerns that are associated with bottled water?]]>
The original idea behind bottled water was that bottled water was cleaner than tap water so drinking it was healthier for you. It's been found that many bottled waters are just tap water in plastic bottles, so that idea is now defunct. With the various health and environmental issues around plastic, filtering your tap water into a stainless steel water bottle makes more sense as a way of staying hydrated when you are away from home. Drinking filtered water from a glass when you are home or at the office makes sense too.
The Chesapeake Bay is best known for being the largest estuary in the United States. It is located between Maryland and Virginia, opening into the Atlantic Ocean, and covers over 64,000 miles. It has a huge impact upon the states that border it and the entire world, because it connects the Atlantic Ocean and other water sources.]]>
Discussions of how does the Clean Water Act help the Chesapeake Bay are important because if it's biological diversity and connection to the world. Not only is the Bay home to numerous plants and animals, it's a playground and a transportation corridor. The Clean Water Act should help preserve this environment, but it's not being enforced adequately to do that. Before long, if we aren't careful, it's going to only be a transportation corridor.
How clean is our drinking water in the world? It all depends upon where you live and where your water comes from. Many countries have access to clean drinking water and this is a wonderful thing.]]>
Water quality isn't great in much of the world. And it seems the less capable a population is of cleaning and filtering polluted water the worse their water is. Having good water filters isn't the only solution to water quality since not all water pollution can be removed by simple filtration, but it's a good start. Even in industrialized nations where there seems to be abundant clean water, the water isn't always as clean as we want and need.