LEARNING ACTIVITY
Catchment management: the story of a river
Climate Region: Arid | Temperate | Tropical
State or Territory: ACT | All States/Territories | NSW | NT | QLD | SA | TAS | VIC
Age Range: 13-18

STORY

Seeing his little cousin Kai throw things down the drain, forced Amir to pay attention to his own actions. How much left over food, hair and body products, dishwashing liquid, chip packets and lolly wrappers ended up in the drain because they weren’t properly disposed of. Where do these items end up?

Then Amir started to think about the actions of his family, his friends, his classmates and his community. Will the small amount of rubbish that each of them accidentally threw in the drain, did it really make a difference?

ACTIVITY OVERVIEW

Water moves through the environment by the Water Cycle. This activity investigates the journey of a river through the catchment. Follow water through the environment and explore the changes to water quality over time.

This learning activity is the first part of a sequence of 5 individual learning activities focused on Catchment Management. The order of these learning activities are: the story of a river, water sustainability, what’s in a drop?, the drain is just for rain and where the river meets the sea.

Outcomes

For children to:

  • understand the journey of water through a catchment and the natural water cycle
  • learn how different pollutants can enter the waterways
  • understand that competing pressures for water security in a catchment
  • appreciate that what happens on land can impact our rivers and ocean.
SEASONAL NOTES

This activity can be undertaken at any time of year.

Did you know?

Water covers 75% of the earth’s surface; only 1% is available as fresh water.

Did you know?

The natural water cycle is the movement of water through the Hydrosphere. (Water moves through the processes of evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, run-off, infiltration and percolation.)

Did you know?

People manage the natural water cycle to make sure we have a safe and reliable water supply. Drinking water comes from rivers and dams, bore water and wells and some from desalination of seawater.

Did you know?

A catchment is an area where water is collected by the natural landscape. The Murray Darling basin is a largest catchment in Australia, and drains around one-seventh of the Australian land mass.

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Your feedback will help Landcare Australia improve the activities in the Junior Landcare Learning Centre.

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