A Minnesota Water Primer & Project WET Companion Minnesota Department of Natural Resources ® Preface Welcome to Water Ways: A Minnesota Water Primer and Project WET Companion. A publication of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. If you’re interested in learning about water in Minnesota, this primer is a great place to start your exploration of this fascinating topic. If you’re an educator, it will serve as a one-stop source for general information about water and provide useful specifics on water resources in Minnesota as well as suggestions on how you can customize national Project WET lessons for Minnesota learners. It can also provide a context for those interested in protecting Minnesota’s water resources. Interested in learning even more? Visit the Minnesota Project WET website at www.mndnr.gov/projectwet/ for correlations with Minnesota academic standards, activity adaptations, Project WET workshop informa- tion, links, and more in-depth information on topics covered here. i ©2010, State of Minnesota, Department of Natural Resources Department of Natural Resources 500 Lafayette Road St. Paul, MN 55155-4040 651-296-6157 (Metro Area) 1-888-MINNDNR (646-6367) (MN Toll Free) mndnr.gov Equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from programs of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is available to all individu- als regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, public assistance status, age, sexual orientation, disability, or activity on behalf of a local human rights commission. Discrimination inquiries should be sent to Minnesota DNR, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155-4049; or the Equal Opportunity Office, Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240. This document is available in alternative formats to individuals with dis- abilities by calling 651-296-6157 (Metro Area) or 1-888-MINNDNR (MN Toll Free) or Telecommunication Device for the Deaf/TTY: 651-296-5484 (Metro Area) or 1-800-657-3929 (Toll Free TTY). Printed on recycled paper containing 30% post-consumer fiber. ii Acknowledgments Thank you to the steering committee members whose valuable con- tributions helped shape the content of this book: John Bilotta, extension educator, University of Minnesota; and Project WET facilitator; Karen Christenson, teacher, educational consultant and Project WET facilitator; Teresa Esnough, teacher, Robbinsdale School District; Barbara Liukkonen, University of Minnesota; Rob Marohn, teacher, Proctor School District; Dan McGuiness, educational consultant; Lisa Pearson, hydrologist, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources; Seliesa Pembleton, educa- tional consultant and Project WET facilitator; Cherie Wagner, program manager, Freshwater Society; and Skip Wright, hydrologist, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Thank you to numerous Minnesota DNR staff members who reviewed sections of this supplement for techni- cal accuracy and created original maps for the book. Thank you also to the educators who volunteered to pilot it in their curriculum planning and provided valuable feedback for improvement: Su Beran, education specialist, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency; Abbi Case, 5th grade teacher, Oneka Elementary School; Deborah L. Colling, executive director, Professional Learning Alternatives, Inc.; Nicole Drager, middle school science teacher, Montevideo Public Schools; Teresa Esnough, science teacher, Cooper High School; Gerri Fitzloff, Girl Scout volunteer & Project WET facilitator, Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys Council; Laurie Hanzal, 2nd grade teacher, Minneapolis Public Schools; Jennifer M. Krings, 4th-5th grade teacher, Ridgeway Community School; Diana Kroska, media specialist, Dayton Elementary School; Garry Loufek, grade 7-12 science teacher, St. Thomas Academy; Amy Moberg, environmental science/horticulture instructor, Anoka Technical College; Sarah Oppelt, teacher and board member, River's Edge Academy; Kara Patrick, 7-12 grade science teacher, Pierz Healy High School; Seliesa Pembleton, educational consultant, Jeffers Foundation; Richard E. Pierce, science teacher, Cook High School, Physics Chemistry Department; Nicole Pokorney, extension educator, 4-H Youth Development, University of Minnesota; Kelly Radotich, AMS trained Montessori teacher, Foundation Hill Montessori School; James Rue, special education teacher, St Paul Public Schools; Misi Stine, school forest coordinator & Project WET facilitator, St David's Center; Lyndon Torstenson, education specialist, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area; Rachel Werk, 7-12 science teacher, Pierz Healy High School; Kim Woehl, independent consultant/trainer/mentor, licensed child care provider. Without their generous gifts of time and talent, this work would not have been possible. Thank you to Mary Hoff for the great work of taking all the thoughts and comments from our wonderful steering committee and reviewers and turning them into this eloquent book! Thank you to Minnesota DNR community assistant specialist, Mark Hauck for copy-editing the iii text. Thank you to Amy Beyer, Minnesota DNR Graphic Arts Specialist for turning all our words and ideas into this beautifully designed book. Special thanks to DNR Division of Fish and Wildlife for the use of artwork created for the publication Fishing: Get in the Habitat! MinnAqua Leader’s Guide. Thank you also to Minnesota Conservation Volunteer for permission to use portions of Wonders of Water (www.dnr.state.mn.us/ young_naturalists/water/index.html) in Chapter 1. Finally, thank you to every person who cares about and for Minnesota’s waters. Your efforts will ensure that this resource will be able to meet not only our needs today, but the needs of our children and grandchildren— and of all living things. — April Rust, Minnesota Project WET Coordinator Water Ways Project Manager iv How to Use This Book Water Ways is specifically designed for use by classroom teachers, informal educators, and anyone interested in learning about water in Minnesota. Read as much or as little of the background for your own information— as is pertinent to you and your existing knowledge. If you’re working with students, you’ll find a variety of activities and suggestions for additional resources for learners of all ages. Feel free to copy the graphics as you wish for educational purposes. If you’re a Project WET user, you’ll find this book to be a handy sup- plement to the information and activities presented in the national Project WET K–12 Curriculum and Activity Guide. Check each chapter for useful cross-references to specific lessons. Please note that activities referenced are from the 1995–2010 edition of the guide. In addition to the book itself, this supplement is posted online for download and supported with additional information on resources, field trips, activities, and other topics: www.mndnr.gov/projectwet/waterways. Whatever your interests and needs, we hope you find within these pages a rich opportunity for building knowledge and stewardship of Minnesota’s waters. If particular parts are exceptionally helpful, or if you have suggestions for future editions, please contact us at www.mndnr.gov/ projectwet/. v vi Table of Contents Chapter 1: Water Basics. 3 Chapter 2: Minnesota Waters: Atmosphere, Rivers, Lakes. 17 Chapter 3: Minnesota Waters: Wetlands and Groundwater . .39 Chapter 4: Life in Water . .53 Chapter 5: Using Water. 69 Chapter 6: Harm and Hope. 85 Chapter 7: Governing Water . 109 A Minnesota Water Timeline . .118 Appendices . 124 Appendix 1: Minnesota Watershed Maps. 124 Appendix 2: Sample Minnesota Water Case Study: 100th Anniversary of Safe Drinking Water for Minneapolis. 130 Appendix 3: Contacts for Local and State Water Information . 131 Appendix 4: Selected Sources . 133 Websites . 134 Glossary. 135 Index . 139 1 NSSDC Photo Gallery, NASA 2 Chapter 1: Water Basics Chapter 1: Water Basics Water is above us, below us, around us, inside Key Concepts us. It keeps our bodies and those of other living things alive and functioning properly. It builds and • Water is integral to life sculpts the nonliving world: Many of the charac- • Minnesota is a special place for water teristics of Earth’s surface—hills, valleys, canyons, • How we treat water affects how well it can mountains, plains—were formed by water. Water meet the needs of living things (including us) shapes weather and climate. It affects where we locate our homes, businesses, and cities. It influ- • Water has unusual characteristics ences how we work and how we play. Sometimes • Water is found in many places and many water moves us from one place to another. forms (phases) Sometimes it stirs our emotions and moves us to • All water is connected through time and the depth of our being. Water itself constantly space as water cycles from the atmosphere moves from sky to land to water body to living to and through the ground and back to the creature and back again. Figuratively and literally, atmosphere again it permeates our existence. There are many speculations about how life began. What many—if not all—of them have in common is the presence of water. Water (H2O) as a What DO you call the place where two chemical performs a variety of functions inside living rivers join? Water was so important to some things. Water as a component of the environment Mdewakanton (med-WAH-ku-tun) Dakota that provides food, shelter, transportation, and more. they named the confluence of the Mississippi and Without water, life as we know it would not exist. Minnesota rivers Makoce Cokaya