Worksheet Grade 11 English Language Arts
Kestrel Bend's Turbidity Log: A Reading and Analysis Worksheet
A grade 11 ELA worksheet where students integrate a short passage with a daily turbidity table from a fictional plant to judge whether the water met standards.
Objectives
- Students will identify the central idea of a short technical passage about turbidity monitoring.
- Students will integrate a data table with a passage to judge whether readings met a stated standard.
- Students will interpret a technical phrase using context and cite textual evidence for a claim.
Vocabulary
- Turbidity
- Turbidity is a measure of how cloudy or murky water looks because of tiny particles floating in it. Clear water has low turbidity, and muddy water has high turbidity.
- Finished water
- Finished water is water that has been through every treatment step and is ready to be sent to homes and schools. It has to meet strict safety rules before it leaves the plant.
- Disinfection
- Disinfection is the step that kills or disables germs in water so it is safe to drink. Water plants usually disinfect with chlorine, ultraviolet light, or ozone.
Also: compliance
Teacher overview
This worksheet pairs a short original passage about turbidity monitoring with a week of daily readings from the fictional Kestrel Bend Water Treatment Plant. Students read the passage, interpret the log, and decide for themselves whether the plant met the standard, rather than being told the answer. The items move from locating stated facts to integrating the table with the text and interpreting the author's choices, so the worksheet doubles as practice in reading a technical document the way a plant operator or a curious resident would.
Student Worksheet
Read the passage, then use it together with the data table to answer the questions.
Passage. At the fictional Kestrel Bend Water Treatment Plant, an operator records the cloudiness of the treated water many times a day. That cloudiness is called turbidity, measured in nephelometric turbidity units, or NTU. Turbidity is not mainly about how the water looks. Tiny particles that make water cloudy can shelter microbes from the disinfectant added later, so cloudy water is harder to make safe. For that reason, federal rules set a firm limit on the finished water, meaning the water that has completed treatment and is ready to leave the plant. Conventional filtration plants must keep finished-water turbidity at or below 0.3 NTU in at least 95 percent of the monthly samples, and a reading must never rise above 1 NTU. Because turbidity can change as source water and filters change through the day, the plant does not test it once and move on. An instrument measures it continuously, and the operator logs the highest reading of each day as a check on the filters. The table below shows one week of those daily peak readings.
| Day | Peak turbidity (NTU) |
|---|---|
| Monday | 0.06 |
| Tuesday | 0.08 |
| Wednesday | 0.05 |
| Thursday | 0.14 |
| Friday | 0.09 |
| Saturday | 0.07 |
| Sunday | 0.10 |
- In one sentence, state the central idea of the passage.
- According to the passage, what turbidity limit must a conventional plant meet in at least 95 percent of its monthly samples?
- Using the table, name the day with the highest peak turbidity and give its reading.
- Do any readings in the table rise above the limits described in the passage? Use both the table and the passage to explain how you know.
- The passage uses the phrase "finished water." Using context, explain what that phrase means at a treatment plant.
- Why does the author include a daily log of readings rather than only describing the standard in prose? Explain what the table adds.
- The passage says cloudiness can shelter microbes from disinfectant. What does this suggest about why a low turbidity reading matters beyond how the water looks?
- A visitor says, "The water already looks clear, so testing it seems unnecessary." Using the passage, write a two-sentence response.
- Which sentence in the passage best supports the idea that turbidity is measured continuously rather than occasionally? Paraphrase it.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
- Answer: The plant monitors turbidity continuously because cloudy water can hide microbes from disinfection, so keeping turbidity low is a safety measure, not just an appearance check. Wording will vary.
- Answer: 0.3 NTU. The passage states plants must keep finished-water turbidity at or below 0.3 NTU in at least 95 percent of monthly samples.
- Answer: Thursday, at 0.14 NTU, which is the highest peak reading in the table.
- Answer: No. The passage sets the limit at 0.3 NTU for most samples and an absolute ceiling of 1 NTU, and every reading in the table (the highest being Thursday's 0.14 NTU) is well below both, so the week met the standard.
- Answer: "Finished water" means water that has completed the treatment process and is ready to leave the plant for the distribution system, as the passage defines it.
- Answer: The log lets a reader check the plant's actual performance against the standard, showing the real daily readings stayed low rather than only asserting compliance in words. The table provides evidence the prose alone would not.
- Answer: It suggests that clear-looking water is not automatically safe, and that low turbidity matters because it helps the disinfectant reach and kill microbes, so the reading is a safety indicator rather than a cosmetic one.
- Answer: Answers will vary but should note that turbidity is not only about appearance; particles too small to see can shelter microbes from disinfectant, so testing confirms the water is actually safe, not just clear.
- Answer: The sentence stating that an instrument measures turbidity continuously and the operator logs the highest reading of each day. A correct paraphrase notes the measurement is ongoing, not a single daily test.
Differentiation
Support
Provide the passage with the sentence that defines the standard already highlighted, and give students a one-line reminder that 0.3 NTU is the main limit before they attempt item 4. Allow items 1 and 5 to be answered in phrases.
Extension
Ask students to write a short caption for the table, in the voice of the plant, explaining to residents what the week's readings show about the water's safety, using both a figure from the table and the standard from the passage.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "turbidity," "finished water," and "disinfection" with a simple visual: a clear glass beside a cloudy one, each with a label. Allow students to answer the literal items (2, 3) with short phrases and to point to the supporting sentence for item 9 before paraphrasing it.