So you wanna teach regular folks (not irregular folks like hydrogeologists) about groundwater? It turns out that it’s harder to find materials than you might think. There’s even a paper about this published in 2022 by John Cherry. Sadly, since groundwater is out of sight, it is often out of mind.
The National Groundwater Association has some materials for use, including:
- The Awesome Aquifer Kit to build your own aquifer,
- the children’s book Mr. Mouse Gets a New Water Well, and,
- don’t DEI me, but I really kinda want this Girl Scouts patch that says “Ask me about Groundwater!”
If the $50 Awesome Aquifer is not awesome enough, there’s the $1,000 Ward’s Groundwater Simulation System. That sucker better discharge margaritas at that price!
The Association, via the Groundwater Foundation, also has a page of resources for students and educators including lesson plans, coloring sheets, hands-on activities, webinars, and more, including Edible Aquifers (I’ve licked aquifers but not ate one…).
HydroFrame has a virtual aquifer sandbox available.
The Meadows Center has an array of educational resources on water, including groundwater.
The U.S. Geological Survey has a Water Science School which includes information and lessons on groundwater.
A bit more local, the Texas Water Development Board has a series of videos to explain groundwater. Doug Coker (RIP), a longtime, dedicated, and conscientious Board employee, narrates the video with his soothing Texas drawl. The Board also has videos of a physical groundwater model. When I was at the Board, we assigned an intern (Richard Bagans) to put these together and were absolutely astonished at the quality. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has a lesson plan on the water cycle.
A general place to perhaps find relevant materials is GroundwaterU, a repositiory of videos on groundwater.
The Groundwater Project, started by a legend in the field, John Cherry, is a repository of free resources for a range of audiences, including
There are other resources out there (for example, the Water Education Foundation, The Groundwater Project, The International Association of Hydrogeologists, and Teachers Pay Teachers), but nothing exactly satifying.
Finally, I offer you this chapter from my book Groundwater Sustainability. Since I wasn’t aware of a document that explained groundwater from soup to nuts in non-technical language, I tried my hand at one: Water from a Stone. Bonus: I mention zombies!
If you have any suggestions, please add them in the comments below. Note that all comments are reviewed before posting due to spammers.
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so secret, occult, and concealed 