For this discussion, you will be investigating water supplies in your area and any reported contamination issues.

Step 1:

Play investigative reporter and find out as much as you can about your local water supply. If you live in the United States, you can find information on the following websites:

If you do not live in the United States, you may be able to find information on your home country by searching for information on drinking water resources in your area. If you cannot find information easily, select any location of your choice in the United States because of the wealth of information available.

If you live in a small town in the United States, information may not be available for your specific area. You can choose the nearest big city to investigate instead of your town.

Find out the following:

• Where does your water come from? For example, is it collected from wells, is it recycled water, or does it come from the ocean and have the salt removed (desalinization)?
• How is your water treated? For example, is it naturally filtered, is it treated with chemicals, or is it aerated?
• The various reports for your area may mention areas of concern such as bacteria, radon, or lead. Can you find any specific concerns for your area?

Step 2:

Continue your research by searching local news sources for information about water contamination issues. An easy way of doing this is to perform a Google News search for your state (or country) with the words water contamination, for example, “New Hampshire water contamination.”

Pick one or two news articles about contamination problems or concerns in your area and read about them.

Find out the following:

• What type of contamination is present?
• How extensive is the issue? Is it affecting an entire city or is it just impacting a few wells?
• Do officials know where the contamination came from? If so, where?
• Are there plans to clean up or treat the problem, or has this already been done?

Step 3:

Write a post that includes the following information:

• A brief synopsis of where your local water comes from and how your water is treated
• A description of any contamination issues that have occurred or that are a concern for the future, and how these issues have been dealt with
• A discussion of how these issues may impact you, your local community, local businesses, and so on.
• Discuss whether you feel enough is being done to protect your water sources by your community, any water treatment facilities, local companies, your government, and so on.