Saving Lake St. Clair

A Water Quality WebquestGREEN

by Chris Geerer

Introduction

Imagine it’s the year 2025. Lake St. Clair beaches are closed to swimmers. Fish is unsafe to eat. A foul smell wafts over Grosse Pointe when winds blow off the lake. Boaters no longer boat. Marinas have gone out of business. Restaurants are closed. Unable to drink tap water, residents are forced to buy drinking water imported from northern Canada at a high cost. Incidents of various cancers have increased 200% in Macomb and Wayne counties.

The Task

While this hasn’t happened yet, this scenario is the future of Lake St. Clair if YOU and other members of the imaginary Lake St. Clair Watershed Management Committee don’t come up with a plan to reduce pollution in the lake.

It is up to your group to present a plan, using Google Slides, to your classmates. You’ll describe the watershed, sources of pollution, monitoring methods, and recommendations to prevent the lake from becoming a big pond of wastewater.

Your presentation should include:

  1. Whole Group: Introduction: Who are you, and what is the purpose of your presentation? What do you want your audience to learn from your presentation? How does Lake St. Clair affect our life, and why should we care about keeping it clean? What are some of the things we can’t do now with Lake St. Clair, that we could do if it was really clean?

2.Geographer:

a.definition of a watershed

  1. description of the Lake St. Clair watershed and Lake St. Clair (where are they? how big are they? Use graphics/maps/etc.)
  2. land usage and population – what is the land around Lake St. Clair used for? (You can use a map or graph to show this!) Do a lot of people live there, or just a few? This tells you what kind of pollution and how much. Why do all the cities and farms around Lake St. Clair make it so hard to keep the lake clean?

3. Ecologist:

  1. Have we lost wetlands in Michigan? If so, how much?
  2. What do wetlands do to clean up water? How does a loss of wetlands affect water quality?
  3. Name at least two invasive species in the Great Lakes. Tell:
  4. What part of the world did each one come from, when did each one get here, and how did each one get here?
  5. What affect do these organisms have on the lake’s ecosystem?

4. Environmental Scientist:

a. Discuss the difference between point and non-point source

pollution. Which is a bigger problem for the lake? Why?

b.Tell about Lake St. Clair’s biggest pollution problems, which are:

1.polluted run-off

Where does it come from? Why is it bad?

2.sewage overflows

What causes them? Why are they bad? How often do they occur?

  1. Whole Group: Make at least four clear, detailed recommendations to reduce or prevent pollution. One of your recommendations should include saving wetlands and one should include preventing invasive species.
  1. Whole Group: What good results will we see from your recommendations? Some of the recommendations will cost money. Tell why individuals, governments, or businesses should spend this money.

7. Whole Group: Include a list of all the internet sites you used.

The Process

1.You will be part of a team of three professionals. The geographer should research watershed location, land use, and how Lake St. Clair impacts our lives. The ecologist should research wetland loss and invasive species. The environmental scientist should explain the biggest pollution threats. Each professional must keep a list of internet sites used.

2.Complete your research and your slides. Merge.

3.Together, decide on three recommendations. Explain exactly how you would go about putting them into action. Then discuss why these ideas are good for everyone. Explain why it will be worth spending the money.

4.Make your list of internet sites used.

5.Practice your presentation.

6.Present it to the class.

Resources

Why Care About Lake St. Clair?

This website describes tourist attractions for Lake St. Clair

Watershed Maps/Land Usage

What is a watershed?

What is a watershed?

What is a watershed?

What is a watershed?

map of entire Lake St. Clair watershed, including Canada

map of the subwatersheds draining into Lake St. Clair

map of our subwatershed

St. Clair facts and figures

St. Clair facts and figures

watershed map

-map of ClintonRiver watershed

land usage

how do people affect water quality

population map

how an increase in population affects water quality

of urbanization (cities) on water quality

how urban (city) land usage affects water quality

Types of Pollution

of point and nonpoint

– where water pollution comes from

nonpoint source pollution

polluted runoff

storm water runoff pollution

Too much nutrients (fertilizers) in runoff

farm runoff

Wastewater treatment process

Tech Alive module; describes wastewater treatment process (sewage)

Combined sewage overflow

combined sewage overflow animation

septic tank description

Recent sewage overflows in Macomb County (Clinton River Watershed)

Recent sewage overflows into the Milk River

what is e. coli?

Wetlands

Tech Alive module; describes the importance of wetlands, lists wetland loss in Michigan and describes wetland laws

- How wetlands affect water quality

wetlands and water quality

why are wetlands important

loss of wetlands in Michigan

Download this PowerPoint for information on Michigan wetlands

Invasive Species

Tech Alive series on Great Lakes ecosystems

Lakes invasives

Great Lakes invasive species

More Great Lakes invasive species info

Recommendations

ideas to prevent nonpoint pollution

to prevent nonpoint pollution

what you can do to prevent nonpoint pollution

ideas to prevent nonpoint pollution

how/why to protect wetlands

why protect wetlands

how boaters can keep the lake clean

Best management practices for houses and farms

Conclusion

You are now an expert on local water quality issues! It is now your duty, as a citizen, to communicate your knowledge to your family, friends, and local governments when the opportunity arises. You can make a difference!

Evaluation

Omitted or Plagiarized (0 points) / Below Expectations (10 points) / Meets Expectations (12 points) / Exceeds Expectations (14 points)
Introduction / None or text is obviously cut and pasted / Some requirements missing or incorrect. / Most requirements met. / Explains the purpose of your presentation and lists at least three things the audience will learn.
Geographer / None or text is obviously cut and pasted / Some requirements missing or incorrect. / All requirements met. / All requirements met and are clear, concise, and complete.
Ecologist / None or text is obviously cut and pasted / Some requirements missing or incorrect. / All requirements met. / All requirements met and are clear, concise, and complete.
Environmental Scientist / None or text is obviously cut and pasted / Some requirements missing or incorrect. / All requirements met. / All requirements met and are clear, concise, and complete.
Recommendations and Results / None or text is obviously cut and pasted / Some requirements missing or incorrect. / All requirements met. / Recommendations and results are exceptionally clear, concise, and complete
List of Sources / None / Too few sources listed / Most sources seem to be listed / List appears complete
Power Point Presentation Skills / Presentation not made to the class / Presentation lacked photos, too much text, or read from slides. / Presentation was interesting. Pictures, diagrams, and photos used for each slide. Read from notes. / Presentation was thoroughly enjoyable. Audience participation encouraged.