Day 7/8

How have industrial and chemical plants affected the water supply in Harris County and the surrounding area?  How are materials transported in these environments?  Is there a connection to diffusion in the operation of these companies?

Objectives:

Describe the environmental impact of toxic waste on the water supply in Harris County and the surrounding area.

Evaluate the effectiveness of the clean-up process on selected Superfund sites

Relate the diffusion process in cells to the diffusion of waste from chemical plants into ground water

Investigate how toxic chemicals in ground water affect the homeostasis of living organisms

Texas and National Standards

1A,B; 2A,B,C,D; 3A,C,E;11C;12E

Materials:

Computers with Internet access or library facilities

Map of the Superfund sites in the Harris county area

Map of Triangle Chemical Company

Environmental well site data: Well 5 page 1

 Well 5 continued, Well 6

 Well 10

Well 10 continued, Well 11

Hand-out to guide research on the Superfund sites

Rubric to assess PowerPoint presentation

Activities:

1. Students will investigate a specific Superfund site.  (one per lab group)
2. Each lab group will create a 1-2 slide PowerPoint presentation to share their research with the class on the following day. See rubric.