101. Cleaning Polluted Water: Pumped Up for Peace [9:36]
Learn how student fundraisers and field scientists from the U.S. have helped indigenous peoples develop water treatment systems, using their own technologies.
102. Drinking Water: Bottle or Tap? [8:31]
A huge bottled-water industry has recently emerged, with the U.S. its largest consumer. But is bottled water actually safer or tastier than tap water? A water expert explains that bottled water does not meet the same strict standards in the U.S. as water from the tap, though tap-water quality can vary among communities.
103. Restoring H²O Ecosystems: Saving Chesapeake Bay [8:03]
Polluted waters can have damaging economic and social effects as well as destroy wildlife habitats. Chesapeake Bay is one of the most polluted bodies of water in America, but local students are working with commercial crab catchers and scientists in the Baltimore area to help restore its health.
104. Surface Water: A Day in the Life of the Rio Grande [7:35]
The Rio Grande is one of our longest rivers, its Texas section forming the border between the U.S and Mexico. Competing human claims for it are viewed through the eyes of two young women: a whitewater rafting guide in upstream New Mexico and a teenager downstream near El Paso. We learn that communities’ demands on the Rio Grande take away so much of its water that southern Texas and Mexico often see only a dry, sandy riverbed.
105. The Great Lakes: Who Owns the Water? [7:51]
The fair distribution of water has long been a worldwide problem, and it is one that the United States may increasingly experience in the future. The Great Lakes contain 20% of the world’s fresh surface water, but that water is currently available to only a small portion of the U.S population. Should water-scarce regions of the country have access to this water, and, if so, should they have to pay for it? What effect would the piping of Great Lakes water to other areas have on the lakes and Midwestern environments? These questions are debated by students and adult experts.
106. Underground Aquifer Water: Precision Farming [8:34]
We learn in this program that despite its wonders, Earth's water cycle does not spread water evenly around the planet. The Ogallala Aquifer’s huge underground reservoir of water gives the relatively dry Central Plains states such as Nebraska a large but limited irrigation source. But the aquifer's water is being used up faster than it is being replenished. We see how one progressive farm family uses technology to conserve water while producing higher food yields.
