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In the United
States, we largely take our supply of potable water for granted.
The reality is that each year we have 4% less potable water due
to contamination and increased demand. Fresh water is
inequitably distributed across the earth and across the United
States. Within the U.S., which has one of the largest
percentages with 8% of the worlds fresh water, much is
concentrated in the Great Lakes. In the next twenty years,
up to 30% of the aquifers in U.S. are expected to go dry.

If new technologies for
decontaminating, disinfecting, and desalinating water are not developed,
estimates suggest that by 2025 we could be out of potable water.
The techniques available now are costly, and many, including
disinfection through chlorination, have side effects that research is
showing cause cancer. Although scientists, researchers and engineers,
through grants from the
National Science Foundation, to solve this problem, it is not enough
to rest on their efforts. Ensuring an adequate, cost-efficient,
and socially equitable supply of potable water for the United States and
the world will be an ongoing struggle for current and future
generations.
As teachers, you can help ensure that
we have the necessary human resources to tackle this problem by
presenting lessons, labs, and WebQuest units to your students that are
based on the cutting edge research being conducted by scientists at
The WaterCAMPWS. Our hope is that by making students aware of
this impending crisis and by demonstrating that solutions are possible
at the intersection of science and technology, more students will choose
to pursue higher education and careers in the sciences, engineering,
mathematics, and technology.
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Through the support of the
National Science Foundation and a variety of sources, including
the work of researchers, graduate students, curriculum
developers, and high school teachers throughout the state of
Illinois, The WaterCAMPWS is able to share with you these
supplemental curriculum modules, which can be used in
combination or as stand alone lessons or labs. Supplies
and equipment, including a subject matter expert, are available
for each of these labs if you complete a request form.
Some of the labs are also WebQuests, inquiry-oriented online
learning units centered around the larger scientific or social
problems that underlie each of these labs. |