This youth activity is one in a series of two activities that can be used to introduce groundwater concepts. It is a good introductory activity and can be adapted for all grades. To illustrate how water flows through an aquifer, how groundwater can become contaminated, and how difficult it is to clean up contamination.
Many communities obtain their drinking water from underground sources called aquifers .
Water suppliers drill wells through soil and rock into aquifers for the groundwater contained in the aquifer. Unfortunately, the groundwater can become contaminated by harmful chemicals that percolate down through soil and rock into the aquifer - and eventually into the well. Such contamination can pose a significant threat to human health. The measures that must be taken by utilities to either protect or clean up contaminated aquifers are quite costly. Make a small hole in one end and insert a section of a drinking straw to serve as the drain spout.