Activity Centre General Instructions Presenter s Script You will have 15 minutes to present your activity. When you hear the air horn blow, you will begin your presentation (please do not start presenting until the air horn sounds this is especially important at the start of the day as this is how we ensure the festival stays on schedule). When the horn sounds again, it is time for your students to move onto their next session. Overview of this activity At this activity, students will have the opportunity to compare the taste and smell of municipally treated drinking water and bottled water and learn about some their differences and similarities. Set up Get tap water from the water wagon using the Bubba thermoses Ensure recycling, compost and garbage bags or receptacles are available for use Use the large 5L water bottles for the bottled water samples Pour the tap water from the bubbas and bottled water into pitchers before filling the cups so the students can t see which is which Empty the pitchers and bubbas at the end of the day Wipe dry with a paper towel and/or clean as needed Important Notes for Lead Volunteer: Keep both water samples at the same temperature. Keep track of which sample is which. Ensure volunteers have clean hands when handling cups to pour samples. Wear gloves provided and avoid touching mouth area of cups. While each session is in progress, have one of the high school volunteers pouring the samples for the next session off to the side.
Do NOT speak negatively of bottled water companies or say that bottled water is unsafe. If you are asked a specific question about bottled water, suggest that the teacher can contact the bottled water company directly. Keep the discussion general let the kids make their own decision about what type of water to drink, the point to convey is that municipally treated tap water is safe to drink and a cheaper alternative to bottled water. At the end of each session, neatly stack the cups and toss into blue bag provided so they can be recycled, paper towels into a compostable bag and rubber/plastic gloves into a garbage bag Materials Required Tap and bottled water samples Plastic cups with water samples Signs with sample identification Drinking water process banners Paper towels Plastic gloves Marbles Voting containers Overall expectations Introduction Demonstrate an understanding of some of the similarities and differences between bottled water and municipally treated drinking water Demonstrate an understanding that municipally treated drinking water is safe and meets strict provincial regulations Demonstrate an understanding of why chlorine is used to treat water and what can be done to reduce its taste and smell Presenter dialogue: Hi Everyone! My name is <<enter your name here>>, and welcome to the. How s everyone doing today? Allow time for responses.
Today we are going to try out some water samples to see if we can taste the difference between bottled water and municipal tap water and learn how municipal tap water is treated to be clean and safe to drink. Depending on where you live, your water comes from a different source or starting point. So, to start, I m going to do a quick quiz to see where you live and where your water comes from. Raise your hand if you live in Port Colborne, Welland, Thorold, St. Catharines or Niagara-on-the-Lake. Allow time for students to raise their hands. If you live in these areas your water comes from The Welland Canal, which is fed by Lake Erie. Hands down. Now, raise your hand if you live in Niagara Falls or Chippewa. Allow time for students to raise their hands. If you live in one of these areas your water comes from The Niagara River which is fed by Lake Erie. Hands down. Raise your hand if you live in Fort Erie, Ridgeway, Crystal Beach or Stevensville. Allow time for students to raise their hands. If you live in these areas your water comes directly from Lake Erie. Hands down. Raise your hand if you live in Grimsby, Vineland, Beamsville or Smithville.
Allow time for students to raise their hands If you live in one of these areas your water comes directly from Lake Ontario. If you live in a rural area such as West Lincoln for Wainfleet you most likely have a private water source like an underground well which is treated differently than the municipal tap water which we are today. Now that we know where your tap water comes from let s talk about the taste of water. Do you think water has a taste? What does it taste like? Possible discussion may include good, bad, like Chlorine, etc. Raise your hand if you drink water at home? Great, drinking water is good for your health. Who drinks tap water? Anyone drink bottled water at home? Initiate discussion here if the students are forthcoming with comments. Ask them why they prefer tap or bottled water. Some discussion may include comments such as which water tastes better, tap or bottles, we only drink tap water, tap water is better for the environment, etc. Your comments are interesting. We all have ideas and preferences about the taste of water. Today we are going to do a taste test to compare the taste of bottled water and tap water.
Activity Taste Test Presenter s Dialogue: Today you are going to help determine if there is a difference between the taste of bottled water and tap water. Make this sound fun but if any students don t want to participate allow them to pass on the taste test. This taste test is going to be just like an American Idol, you vote for the winner. We have marbles here and you will vote on which water sample you prefer by placing a marble in the bucket of the sample you like best. Demonstrate how to taste a sample, smelling it first, and then sipping slowly. Have students line up on each side of the tables so that on one side they start with Sample 1 and on the other side they start with Sample 2. Direct the students to take a cup of each sample. They then proceed to place a marble in the container of the sample they prefer. Try to keep each voting container hidden until all marbles are deposited. Get the students to sit down once they have completed their vote. Have one activity leader initiate some general discussion (i.e. ask them about what they have learned today) to pass time while waiting for the rest of the students to finish. Once all the students are done, ask the following discussion questions (by a show of hands) Discussion Raise your hand if you thought Sample 1 tasted better? Why? Raise your hand if you thought Sample 2 tasted better? Why?
Raise your hand if you think sample 1 was tap water? Why? Raise your hand if you think sample 2 was tap water? Why? Encourage discussion about the difference between the samples before revealing the results. And now for the moment you ve all been waiting for Reveal the containers to show which one has the most marbles. Sample (one or two depending on how it is set up) is tap water! Initiate discussion about their reactions, then discuss that municipally treated tap water is safe to drink. Municipal drinking water is regulated by the Ontario Safe Drinking Water Act to ensure it is safe to drink. For the information of the presenter if it is raised, bottled water is regulated by the Canadian Food and Drugs Act. Municipal drinking water has to pass many tests and meet strict rules in order to be sent to your taps. Every day the operators at the water treatment plants conduct many different tests to make sure the water is safe to drink. An inspector from the provincial government also visits the drinking water treatment plants to test our water! The water from our drinking water treatment plants in Niagara is very safe to drink! What do you think we do in the water treatment plants to make tap water safe?
Discuss the drinking water treatment process briefly. An overview is below and you can use the banners and the Appendix to this script for an overview of the steps of the water treatment process. Water is pumped to the plant from the lake; we add a chemical to make the particles stick together and form floc; then the water goes to the settling tank where the floc sink to the bottom; next is the filter with different layers of sand that trap the particles; and finally disinfection with chlorine. Now discuss disinfection and the taste and smell of chlorine. Why do you think we add chlorine to the water? That s right; it is added to kill any harmful bacteria or microorganisms in the water. Can you smell or taste chlorine in tap water? Wrap Up If you don t like the taste and smell of chlorine, you can fill a jug with water and leave in the fridge overnight to help the taste and smell of chlorine go away. Presenter Dialogue: Sometimes water may have different tastes and smells, like chlorine, but that does not make it unsafe to drink. You may prefer the taste of one over the other, but remember that municipal tap water is just as safe and clean as bottled water. Not to mention that an estimated 80%
of water bottles in North America never get recycled and just end up in a dump. This is a lot of waste! Not only is tap water less wasteful because you are not using plastic that will be thrown out it is way less expensive than bottled water. For a jug of bottled water this big (point to 20 Litre jug) it would cost between $5 and $30* but for the same size jug of tap water it would cost less than a penny! *Depending on what size you bought. For example, forty 500mL bottles, each bought separately at a corner store would cost about $40 dollars while a case of thirty bottles of water costs about $6 and a ten litre jug costs about $3.
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