Watersheds

In Science we're currently learning about wetlands and watersheds, and today we had a special presenter come in to talk to us about how many of the things humans do impact our local watershed. Did you know that we are part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed? We have many creeks and streams here in the Elizabethtown area, and all of them flow into the Susquehanna River! Mrs. Risser, our special guest, talked to us about how farmers can only use a little bit of the land and showed us a model of what our local watershed could look like.

The water shed model

Mrs. Risser shows us how much land farmers can actually use by cutting an apple

Mrs. Risser talking to our classes

After we learned about the different locations on the model, we started talking about some of the things that people do to impact our local watersheds. We learned that famers, builders and loggers and affect the soil and cause it to erode. Home owners, farmers and golf course owners sometimes put pesticides and herbicides on their property and that can get into our water systems. We also learned that oil from cars and chemicals from factories and sewage treatment plants can get into the water system. Each time we learned about things that could affect our watershed, one of our friends sprinkled some powder on to the model.

Wyatt adding eroding soil to the model

Emma adding herbicides and pesticides

Then there was a TERRIBLE storm!

Autumn and Kelsey create a storm with the spray bottles

As the girls created the storm we saw how the powders representing the various pollutants very quickly washed from their original spots and into the river! We know that this pollution will continue on to the Chesapeake Bay, and it can harm the shellfish and other creatures that make their homes there. We asked lots of questions about what people can do to stop this and how the pollution might affect animals and land closer to home.

We really appreciated how Mrs. Risser came to talk to us today about watersheds and how our actions can impact places far away from Elizabethtown. We're going to use this information to help us as we continue to learn about wetlands and watersheds and what we can do to protect them.