Stormwater Runoff:
Understanding the Ecological Impacts of Changing Land Uses
by Joan Chadde A
S COMMUNITIES SPRAWL, new shopping malls spring up on their edges, big parking lots creep across the landscape and signage grows like weeds. Cookie-
cutter architecture and big-box stores replace historic down- towns. As the built environment takes on a new look and feel, the natural environment changes too — but how? I wanted to engage my middle school students in learning
about these changes in their community so that they would better understand the consequences of wishing for another fast food restaurant or mini-mall. As a science teacher, I needed to find a way to connect learning about land use and community character with my middle school science curriculum. I decided to build a unit around stormwater, since a leading cause of water pollution is contaminants carried into lakes and rivers by stormwater runoff. Stormwater is also something that students can easily see and do something about.
Objectives
The stormwater unit brings up problems and solutions that students encounter every day, but rarely think about. Many students are not aware that land use changes in their
communities are planned, or intentionally unplanned. By the end of our study, students are able to:
• describe ways in which humans change the environment and describe some of the possible consequences of those changes.
• explain the effects of agriculture and urban development on ecosystems.
• describe how changes in land use and land cover change community character and appearance and affect the envi- ronment.
• explain how pavement increases runoff into streams, lakes and coastal areas.
• describe how stormwater runoff can lower the water qual- ity in streams, lakes and coastal areas, affecting sports and commercial fishing, altering picturesque waterfronts and causing beach closures.
• explain how increased stormwater runoff reduces groundwater recharge, potentially lowering the water table and impacting private drinking water wells.
• use measurement to describe the real world and to solve problems.
GREEN TEACHER 83 Page 9
Joan Chadde
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