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.

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 WaterCAPWS 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.