Why Not Dump It Here? Purpose Understand what happens to toxins that are improperly disposed of. Materials you will need Ground water models from Activity A Green or red food dye Hazard Cards (pgs 39-40) Suggested grouping and time Teams of two or three people per ground water model. This activity takes about 30 minutes. Introduction As residents of this community, you go about your lives doing all the things that people normally do, like cleaning your houses, changing the oil on your cars, and trying to get rid of weeds and bugs in your gardens. A lot of these things you use you probably wouldn't want to drink and may not want to end up in your drinking water! We will be investigating what happens to some of these things when they are handled poorly. Action 1. Ask each team to choose one of the hazardous waste cards. Give them a few minutes to decide which of the admittedly terrible alternatives they would like to try. 2. Drop 6 drops of food coloring into one spot on the model that corresponds to the disposal method they selected. (Beside one of the houses, at the dump, in a backyard, etc.) 3. Ask the teams to gently spray the spots with their spray bottles. Ask them to observe what happens to the dye. 4. Ask them to pump water again from their wells. They should continue to spray rain on their models whenever they feel a rainstorm is called for. 5. Ask them to continue to pumping and raining for a while, observing what happens to the dye. 6. Ask them to move away from the materials and find a comfortable place where they can form a discussion circle. Sciencing Where did the dye go in your models? (Observing, Communicating) How fast did it show up in the wells or ponds? Did different colors of dyes move differently? How do you account for the differences? (Observing, Communicating, Inferring) Would you want to drink this? (Inferring)

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