Graphic organizer Grade 9 Careers & CTE
Pellamar's Service Line Inventory: A Roles and Records Frame
A grade 9 organizer that maps each record in a fictional utility's lead service line inventory to what it establishes and which job in the utility produces it.
Objectives
- Students will match each inventory record to the fact it establishes about a service line.
- Students will name the utility role that produces each record in the inventory.
- Students will explain in writing how an address moves from unknown to a confirmed material.
Vocabulary
- Service line
- A service line is the small pipe that connects the water main under the street to the plumbing inside one home or building. It is the last leg of the trip water makes to your tap.
- Action level
- A trigger number in lead and copper testing. If too many homes test above this level, the utility must take steps like improving treatment and telling the public.
Also: inventory, curb stop, galvanized, verification
Teacher overview
This organizer is a three-column records frame drawn from the service line inventory of the fictional Pellamar Water Department. Each row names one record or field task, and students supply what it establishes and which job inside the utility produces it, which turns a regulatory obligation into a visible division of labor across six roles. A closing row asks for a short written explanation, so the frame doubles as a planning scaffold for informative writing. The common misconception this organizer corrects is that an address listed as unknown must be lead; unknown means only that no record and no field check has yet settled the material, and an unknown line can resolve either way once someone looks.
Organizer
What a service line inventory is, in brief:
- A service line is the pipe that connects a water main to one building.
- The utility owns one part of that pipe, and the property owner usually owns the rest.
- Every water system must list each address as lead, galvanized requiring replacement, non-lead, or unknown.
- Unknown means no record and no field check has settled the material yet.
- EPA estimates that about 4 million lead service lines remain in water systems across the country.
- The lead action level is 15 parts per billion, and it drops to 10 parts per billion in 2027.
- The same rule requires systems to replace nearly all lead service lines within ten years.
Complete the two empty cells in each row for the fictional Pellamar Water Department, then write the closing row.
| Record or field task | What it establishes | Who at the utility produces it |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Historical tap cards and plumbing permits | ||
| 2. Field verification at the curb stop | ||
| 3. Customer-side check inside the building | ||
| 4. Address-level map layer | ||
| 5. Public inventory posted for residents | ||
| 6. Follow-up tap sampling at addresses with lead lines | ||
| Closing row | In three sentences, explain how one address moves from unknown to a confirmed material. | Name what would still be missing if only the utility side had been checked. |
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Completed Exemplar
| Record or field task | What it establishes | Who at the utility produces it |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Historical tap cards and plumbing permits | The year the line was installed and the material written down at the time, which narrows the likely answer without proving it | A records clerk in the fictional Pellamar engineering office |
| 2. Field verification at the curb stop | The actual material on the utility side of the line, found by a scratch test or a small excavation | A distribution crew working with a service line inspector |
| 3. Customer-side check inside the building | The material on the owner's side of the line, usually at the shutoff where the pipe enters the building | The customer, with a photograph and scratch test confirmed by a utility technician |
| 4. Address-level map layer | Where verified and unverified lines sit across the whole system, so crews can plan the next streets to check | A GIS technician |
| 5. Public inventory posted for residents | The published category for each address: lead, galvanized requiring replacement, non-lead, or unknown | The compliance coordinator |
| 6. Follow-up tap sampling at addresses with lead lines | How the water at that tap compares with the action level of 15 parts per billion, dropping to 10 parts per billion in 2027 | A water quality technician with the certified laboratory |
| Closing row | An address leaves the unknown category when a record or a field check settles the material on both sides of the line. The tap card narrows the answer, and the curb stop check confirms the utility side. The customer-side check completes it, because the two halves can be made of different metals. | Without the customer-side check, the inventory would still show the fictional Pellamar address as unknown, since the pipe inside the property line has not been identified. |
Differentiation
Support
Pre-fill the "Who at the utility produces it" column and ask these students to complete only the middle column. Provide the six role names on cards so students can match rather than recall them.
Extension
Ask these students to add a seventh row for the notice a utility sends to a household whose line is confirmed as lead, naming what the notice must establish and who in the fictional Pellamar department would write it.
ELL supports
Pre-teach service line, curb stop, inventory, and verification with a labeled sketch showing a main, a curb stop, and a house. Allow the middle column to be completed with phrases, and let the closing row be dictated to a partner before it is written.
Extensions
Ask students to look up whether their own water system has posted a service line inventory and what categories appear in it. Comparing a real posted inventory with this frame shows which of the six records the public sees and which stay inside the utility.