It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {#TBT - Edible Aquifers}

Frannie likes to learn about groundwater by using hands on activities, so this week she's taking you back to an old favorite!  Here's how you can learn all about aquifers while creating your own yummy treats!
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Edible aquifers are a fun and easy way to understand the geology of an aquifer. Your edible aquifer will help you learn about confining layers, contamination, groundwater recharge and water tables!

Here is what you will need to make your edible aquifer:

• Clear plastic cups
• Ice cream scoop
• Spoons
• Drinking straws
• Blue/red food coloring
• Vanilla ice cream or fruity sorbet
• Clear soda pop
• Small gummy bears, chocolate chips, crushed cookies, breakfast cereal, or crushed ice
• Variety of colored cake decoration sprinkles and sugars

What you will need to do:

1. Begin to make your edible aquifer by filling the clear plastic cup 1/3 full with gummy bears,
chocolate chips, or crushed ice (This represents sand and gravel).
2. Add enough soda (this represents the water) to just cover the candy/ice.
3. Add a layer of ice cream to make a “confining layer” over the water-filled aquifer.
4. Then add more “sand/gravel” on top of the confining layer.
5. Colored sugars and sprinkles will represent soils and should be sprinkled over the top to create the
porous top layer.
6. Now add the food coloring to the soda. The food coloring represents contamination. Pour the colored soda over the top of the aquifer.
7. Watch what happens when it is poured on the top of the aquifer. This is what happens when contaminants are spilled on the earth’s surface.
8. Using a drinking straw, drill a well into the center of your aquifer by poking the straw through the aquifer.
9. Slowly begin to pump the well by sucking on the straw. Watch the water go down in the water table.
10. Notice how the contaminants can get sucked into the well area and end up in the groundwater by
leaking through the confining layer.
11. Now recharge your aquifer by adding more soda which represents a rain shower.
12. Review what you have learned as you enjoy eating your edible aquifer.

Here is a video that shows you step by step how to make your edible aquifer!

If you would like more hands on activities that can help you learn about groundwater, visit the Students and Educator's page on The Groundwater Foundation website!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Frannie's Adventure Downstream: Part 2}

This is the second of a three part series exploring pollution in the stream near Frannie's home. Join her on her adventure downstream to see what happens or go back to read the first part of her journey.

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As Frannie was continuing her adventure, she started to notice that the river had a salty taste.

Add the fourth item to the bowl – road salt: Pour in some salt.

“Oh no! Poor Frannie.”

Frannie began to swim faster to escape the salt.

Downstream, Frannie passed a picnic site. Someone left their trash behind. Right then, a big gust of wind came and pushed most of the trash right into the stream. Frannie didn’t like this mess at all! Frannie tried to push the litter out of the stream but couldn’t get it all with her little fins.

Add the fifth item to the bowl – litter: Add the paper into the bowl.

“Oh no. Poor Frannie!”

She continued to swim downstream, determined to continue her adventure.

Frannie heard a lot of commotion up on the bank of the stream. She peeked out of the water and saw an overturned oil truck. Some of the oil from the truck had spilled into the stream! If Frannie’s gills ever got clogged up with oil, she would have trouble breathing.

Add the sixth item to the bowl – oil: Pour in the vegetable oil.

“Oh no. Poor Frannie!”

As Frannie continued to swim away from the oil spill, she noticed storm clouds overhead. The rain that began to fall into the stream from the storm clouds wasn’t clean water. Frannie’s scales begin to itch!

Add the seventh item to the bowl – acid rain: Pour in the vinegar.

“Oh no! Poor Frannie!”

Frannie passed a leaky, rusty old barrel. An unknown substance was leaking out. Unbeknownst to her, an old factory had dumped the tank into the river many years ago. But now the barrel was leaking. As Frannie swims by, she takes in a gulp of water.

Add the eighth item to the bowl – leaky storage tank: Add in a small container with a cracked lid, filled with colored water.

“Oh no! Poor Frannie!”

Check back to see how Frannie's journey ends!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Frannie’s Adventure Downstream: Part 1}

Frannie and her friends need cool, clear streams to live in. A while ago, Frannie explored a local creek.  The story of her adventure is a good visual activity to learn how different sources of pollution can affect a clear stream and eventually make it unsuitable for wildlife such as fish.

For this activity, you will need:

• A fishing lure to represent Frannie - one that looks like a fish, with hooks removed, preferably weighted or sinking lure that is colorful. Frannie is on a fishing line suspended in a gallon jug or fish bowl of clear water.

• Gallon jar, fish bowl, or small fish aquarium

• Gravel for the bottom of the bowl/aquarium (optional)

• Pencil or ruler placed of the top of jar to hold Frannie suspended halfway in the jar under water

• 10 small containers or plastic bags to hold contaminants

1.     Sediment	Potting soil, sand and gravel mix
2.     Manure	Raisins, dry beans, chocolate-puff cereal
3.     Fertilizer	Green powdered drink mix
4.     Road Salt	Salt
5.     Litter	Torn paper and plastic bits
6.     Motor Oil	Vegetable oil
7.     Acid Rain	Apple cider vinegar or white vinegar tinted orange/pink with food dye
8.     Leaking Storage        Tank	Film canister with a cracked lid filled with red/blue food dye and water
9.     Industrial Waste	Liquid dish/hand soap/lotion and nails/screws/bolts/ Gravel
10. Pesticides	Baking soda or salt mixed with instant coffee or tea

One day, Frannie left her shady, cool pool and headed downstream on an adventure.

After a little while, Frannie noticed that the sun was shining and the stream was no longer as cool and dark. She looked out of the water and noticed that all the trees had been cut down and sediment from the banks was washing into the water.

Add the first item to the bowl – sediment: Sprinkle some soil over the water and allow it to slowly settle over Frannie. 

“Oh no! Poor Frannie!”

After a while Frannie poked her nose out of the water and do you know what she saw? Big black and white animals coming down to visit her. Cows! As they walked in the water they stirred up mud and left some smelly “presents.”

Add the second item to the bowl – manure: Sprinkle some raisins or cereal and let them sink in the water.

“Oh no! Poor Frannie!”

Frannie continued to swim downstream and passed some cornfields, but was no longer feeling very well.

Add the third item to the bowl – fertilizer: Sprinkle in green powdered drink mix.

“Oh no! Poor Frannie!”

Frannie wasn’t ready to go home and continued to swim downstream.

Check back to see how Frannie's adventure continues!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {#ThrowbackThursday with Nebraska MEDS Coalition - Drug Take Back Program}

Frannie was doing some spring cleaning this weekend and discovered a few bottles of old medications from when she had a bad cough a couple years ago.  At first, she wasn't sure what to do, but then she remembered seeing a blog a couple years ago about the Drug Take Back Program by the Nebraska MEDS Coalition! 

After a little digging, she found the blog, took her old medicines back to the pharmacy and wanted to share this information with all of you!

That's right, we're celebrating #tbt early to make sure you're properly disposing of those old pharmaceuticals and personal care products.

Happy spring cleaning!

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Attention Nebraska friends:

Did you know that 85% of Nebraskans rely on groundwater for their drinking water? Groundwater is also an important source for irrigation (the water used to grow our food). It's not only important that we conserve groundwater, it is also important that we protect it from contamination. Groundwater contamination occurs when substances in the groundwater make it unfit for an intended purpose and can cause harm to people, animals and the environment. Contaminants can be naturally-occurring or manmade- like gasoline, oil, road salts, or other chemicals. Frannie wants to talk about another group of manmade contaminants today- pharmaceuticals and personal care products, including:

• Cleaning and laundry products
• Make-up products
• Sunscreen and other moisturizers
• Vitamins and dietary supplements
• Medicines (prescription, over-the-counter, veterinary, etc.)

Find out more about these products here.

These products help keep us healthy and clean, but if they are disposed of improperly, they can end up in surface and groundwater. Improperly disposing of medications includes: flushing down toilets and drains or tossing in the trash.

Instead, be a leader and talk with your parent/guardian about making sure these products are properly disposed of with the Nebraska MEDS drug take-back program! Remember: never handle these products. Let your parent/guardian handle all medicines and personal care products. 

The Nebraska MEDS Coalition is a group of state and community partners that educate Nebraskans about proper drug disposal and provide safe, convenient disposal opportunities! There are over 290 pharmacies across Nebraska that participate in the Nebraska MEDS drug take-back program and will take back leftover, unused, or expired medications all year round. Since 2012 when the program began, 33,176 pounds of medications have been collected and safely disposed of! Help be part of the solution and find a pharmacy near you!  

It is important that we all play a part in protecting this precious resource! Talk with your parent/guardian about protecting groundwater by taking back unused or expired medications today. Show them this fun infographic with more information.

BLOG: Skip the Straw

by Jennifer Wemhoff, The Groundwater Foundation

You're out to dinner with your family. You order a nice, cold glass of water to drink with your meal. The server brings your glass, and plunks down plastic straws for you and each of your family members. You open it without another thought, add it to your drink, and slurp away.

That straw may be convenient, but once your drink is done, that straw is part of the 500 million plastic straws used in the U.S. every single day. That's enough to fill 127 school buses or circle the earth 2.5 times. That means the average person in the U.S. will use about 38,000 or more straws between the ages of 5 and 65. 

Plastic straws don't decompose and are generally too lightweight to make it through a recycling facility's sorter, meaning they end up in a landfill for all eternity or find their way into a water body. Once they're in the water, they break down into small pieces that marine life mistake for food (71% of seabirds and 30% of sea turtles have found with plastic in their stomach). 

It's not a good situation all around.

So what can you do?

It's easy - skip the straw! Simply tell your server you don't want straws when you're dining out with your family. At home, opt for reusable straws (find some cool plastic alternatives). Ask your friends and family to do the same.
Here are some great resources to help convince you to quit plastic straws:
https://thelastplasticstraw.org/
https://www.strawlessocean.org/