Looking for something fun to do at the table with family over the holidays? Don’t talk politics, talk watersheds!
Try making a watershed model. All you need is water, pepper, an imagination, and aluminium foil or something similar. A water spray bottle is recommended, but not required.
A watershed is an area of land that “sheds” water to a single location. All the water that comes into an area via precipitation, will eventually flow to the lowest point, typically where a waterway already is. Most of our watersheds are named after that one place the water sheds to, like the North River.
A watershed can be as big as half of the country, for example the Rocky Mountains separate two great watershed basins of the east and west. Or it can be as small as a puddle in your driveway.
To make a watershed model, follow these simple steps:
1. Crumple a piece of aluminium foil.
2. Uncrumple the foil so it becomes semi flat, but still bumpy. Hint: this will represent hills and valleys, thus showing topography.
3. Before adding water, look at your foil landmass and try to identify where the low points are. Where do you think the water will shed to? If I add water here, what direction will it flow?
4. Gently pour or spray water over the foil and watch the watershed in action! You can imagine your foil as a representation of your town or state. As water enters the area, it moves across the land and ponds and rivers are formed. The water moves across the land in a process called runoff. This also means that if the water runs off across places with other things, like litter or pollution, those can also get carried across and deposited in our waterways.
5. Sprinkle some pepper across your landmass and add more water. Watch as the pepper, aka pollution, contaminates your runoff and sends it into your ponds and rivers.
6. Ask your younger family members to share some ways we can keep our water clean and our community free from pollution.