Graphic organizer Grade 7 Careers & CTE
From Tap to State Report: Tulloch Creek's Sample Chain
A grade 7 careers organizer tracing a drinking water sample through six steps and the job behind each at a fictional utility, with an exemplar and a sampling question.
Objectives
- Students will name the job responsible for each step of a compliance sampling chain.
- Students will explain what record each worker leaves behind and why it matters.
- Students will explain why a sampling plan covers several sites rather than one tap.
Vocabulary
Key words: sampling plan, chain of custody, analyst, compliance, representative sample
Teacher overview
This organizer is a six-step chain that follows one water sample from a kitchen tap to a report on a state desk, naming the job that owns each step. The chain shape matters, because a single missing signature can void a result that took three people a day to produce. In a utility the person who collects the sample, the person who analyzes it, and the person who reports it are three different jobs, and each one leaves a record the next person depends on.
Organizer
The fictional Tulloch Creek Water District serves a town of about 9,000 people. It takes water samples every month and sends the results to the state. Fill in every empty cell. Use the two lists in the table below.
| Job titles to choose from | Records to choose from |
|---|---|
| Compliance coordinator | A signed sampling plan |
| Distribution operator | A chain of custody form |
| Laboratory analyst | A bench sheet of test results |
| Laboratory supervisor | A signed review page |
| State drinking water program reviewer | A monthly compliance report |
| Step | What happens | Whose job it is | What record is left | What breaks if this step is skipped |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The month's sampling plan is set | ||||
| 2. Samples are collected at the listed sites | ||||
| 3. Bottles are labeled, iced, and signed over | ||||
| 4. The samples are tested at the bench | ||||
| 5. Results are reviewed and approved | ||||
| 6. Results are reported to the state |
Sampling question. The fictional Tulloch Creek plan lists sample sites all over town. It does not use one tap at the utility office. Write two sentences. Tell why one tap would not show what the rest of the town drinks.
Rule question. Choose one row above in which a federal drinking water rule turns into work that someone does. Write that row number. Then write one sentence about what the rule asks for.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Completed Exemplar
| Step | What happens | Whose job it is | What record is left | What breaks if this step is skipped |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The month's sampling plan is set | Sites, dates, and tests for the month are listed in advance | Compliance coordinator | A signed sampling plan | Sites get chosen to look good rather than to represent the system |
| 2. Samples are collected at the listed sites | Bottles are filled at the listed taps, and chlorine residual is read in the field | Distribution operator | Field notes on the chain of custody form | No one can prove which tap a bottle came from |
| 3. Bottles are labeled, iced, and signed over | Each bottle is labeled with site, date, and time, then handed to the laboratory | Distribution operator, then laboratory analyst | A chain of custody form signed by both | A result cannot be tied to a place, so it cannot be used |
| 4. The samples are tested at the bench | Tests are run within the holding time the method allows | Laboratory analyst | A bench sheet of test results | Results arrive too late to mean anything |
| 5. Results are reviewed and approved | A second person checks the calculations and the method used | Laboratory supervisor | A signed review page | A single typing error becomes the official number |
| 6. Results are reported to the state | The month's results are submitted, and customers are notified if a level is exceeded | Compliance coordinator | A monthly compliance report | The utility is out of compliance even if the water was fine |
Sampling question, sample response. One tap sits at one place in the pipe network, so its water has traveled one path and sat in one set of pipes. Samples from several sites across the fictional Tulloch Creek system show what most customers actually receive, including the ends of the system where water sits longest.
Rule question, sample response. Row 6 is the clearest example. Also accept row 1 (federal rules require a written plan listing the sample sites), row 2 (federal rules require routine samples at those sites, with the chlorine residual measured alongside them), or row 4 (tests must use EPA-approved methods within their holding times) when the student's sentence describes the rule accurately. For row 6: Federal drinking water rules require the system to report its monthly results to the state and to notify customers when a result exceeds a level set by rule. The chlorine residual read in row 2 is part of the same reporting; systems typically hold a residual of 0.2 to 2.0 mg/L in distribution.
Differentiation
Support
Give these students rows 1 and 6 already filled in, so the chain has both ends anchored, and reduce the word bank to the exact number of items still needed. Allow the last column to be completed with a phrase rather than a sentence.
Extension
Ask these students to add a seventh row for what happens when a result comes back above a level set by rule, naming the job that decides, the notice that goes out, and how fast it has to reach customers in the fictional Tulloch Creek service area.
ELL supports
Pre-teach sample, custody, bench, review, and compliance with one short definition and one picture each. Provide a frame for the sampling question: "One tap shows only ___. Several sites show ___." Allow students to speak each row aloud before writing it.
Extensions
Ask students to open their own community's annual water quality report and to find how many sample sites the utility used for one listed contaminant. A short discussion can then connect that number to step 2 of the chain the fictional Tulloch Creek district follows.