Engineering a Solution to Watershed Pollution

This lesson is offered to all North Thurston schools and any private schools that receive water from the City of Lacey or are within City limits. Over the course of 3 days, students learn about the water cycle, watersheds, and stormwater runoff. They build a model of a watershed and then work in teams to engineer a solution to the problem of polluted stormwater runoff.

  • Day 1: Water cycle activity where students move around to different stations in the cycle.
  • Day 2: The water cycle is put into the context of a watershed and students build a model of their watershed in a paint tray. They add non-point source pollution and see where it goes when it rains.
  • Day 3: Students design and test a solution to water pollution in their model. We provide a powerpoint, short videos, and building supplies.

Teachers are responsible for class copies of the accompanying journal used in the lesson. Lesson designed to support Next Generation Science Standards.

To schedule, contact
AmeriCorps Volunteer
City of Lacey
(360) 438-2687