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Reading passage Grade 7 Health & Consumer Science

Forever Chemicals in Verano Springs' Well Water

A grade 7 informational passage on PFAS in a fictional town's wells, the federal limit, and what families can do, with evidence-citing questions.

Objectives

  1. Students will identify how PFAS reached a town's wells using details from the text.
  2. Students will cite several pieces of evidence to support an inference about the passage.

Vocabulary

PFAS
A large family of human-made chemicals used in things like nonstick pans, waterproof fabric, and firefighting foam. They are called forever chemicals because they take a very long time to break down.
Forever chemicals
A nickname for PFAS, human-made chemicals that almost never break down in nature. Because they last so long, they can build up in water, soil, and people.
Reverse osmosis
Reverse osmosis cleans water by pushing it through a membrane with holes so tiny that salt and most other dissolved things cannot fit through. It can even turn seawater into fresh water.
Activated carbon
Activated carbon is a special charcoal full of microscopic holes that grab and hold chemicals as water flows past. It is the same material used in many home water filter pitchers.
Aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of rock, sand, or gravel that holds water in the tiny spaces between its grains. Wells reach down into aquifers to bring water up to the surface.

Teacher overview

This passage introduces PFAS, the "forever chemicals" now found in some drinking water, through a fictional town whose wells tested high. It explains what PFAS are, how they reach groundwater, the federal limit, and what a utility and a family can each do. Assign it to build background before a lesson on home water safety, and to practice citing several details from a text.

Forever Chemicals in Verano Springs' Well Water — Grade 7 Health & Consumer Science
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Passage

Verano Springs is a small, fictional town where most homes get their water from underground wells. For years the water looked clean and tasted fine. Then the town tested its wells for a group of human-made chemicals called PFAS. Several wells came back with more than the federal limit allows.

PFAS is the name for a large family of chemicals that people have made for decades. Factories use them to make products that resist water, grease, and heat. You can find them in some nonstick pans, stain-proof carpets, food wrappers, and firefighting foam. These chemicals are useful, but they have a serious problem. They break down very slowly in nature. Because they can last so long, many people call them "forever chemicals."

Over the years, PFAS from products and factories can wash into the soil. Rain then carries them down into the groundwater that feeds wells. Once PFAS reach an aquifer, they are hard to remove, and they do not fade away on their own. That is how the chemicals reached the wells under Verano Springs, even though no factory sat right next door.

Scientists worry about PFAS because studies link them to health problems when people drink them for a long time. To lower the risk, the federal government set a limit in 2024. For two of the most common PFAS chemicals, the limit is just 4 parts per trillion each. That is an extremely small amount. Water systems must meet the limit by 2029. In 2026 the government proposed letting some water systems apply for two more years, until 2031, while keeping the same limit. That proposal is not final, so the dates may still change.

For a town like Verano Springs, meeting the limit takes money and time. The utility can add treatment at the well, using filters that trap the chemicals before the water reaches homes. Two kinds of filters work well against PFAS. Activated carbon acts like a sponge for the chemicals. Reverse osmosis pushes water through a very fine layer that blocks them.

Families do not have to wait for the town to act. A household can install its own filter that is certified to reduce PFAS, such as an under-sink reverse-osmosis unit. It helps to check the label first. A basic pitcher filter made only to improve taste usually does not remove PFAS.

The story of Verano Springs is playing out in many real towns. PFAS were used widely for a long time before people understood how long they last. Now communities are testing their water, sharing the results, and deciding how to pay for cleaner supplies. Reading a water report, and knowing which filter to trust, are becoming basic skills for anyone who drinks from a tap or a well.

Questions

  1. What did Verano Springs find when it tested its wells?
  2. According to the passage, why do people call PFAS "forever chemicals"?
  3. What is the federal limit for two of the most common PFAS chemicals, and what has happened to the deadline for meeting it?
  4. The passage says no factory sat right next to the town. Cite two details that explain how PFAS still reached the wells.
  5. Why might a family that buys a basic pitcher filter still be drinking PFAS? Use the passage to explain.
  6. The passage calls reading a water report a "basic skill." Using at least two details from the text, explain why the writer says that.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key
  1. Answer: Several wells had more PFAS than the federal limit allows. The first paragraph states the wells came back above the limit.
  2. Answer: Because PFAS break down very slowly and can last a long time in nature. The second paragraph gives this as the reason for the nickname.
  3. Answer: The limit is 4 parts per trillion each. Systems must meet it by 2029, and in 2026 the government proposed letting some systems apply for two more years, to 2031, so the dates may still change. The fourth paragraph states this.
  4. Answer: PFAS from products and factories washed into the soil, rain carried them down into the groundwater that feeds wells, and once in an aquifer they are hard to remove. The third paragraph supports all three points.
  5. Answer: A basic pitcher filter is made only to improve taste and usually does not remove PFAS, so the chemicals pass through to the family. The sixth paragraph states this.
  6. Answer: Answers will vary but should cite at least two details, such as that towns must test their water and share results, that families must check filter labels, and that people need to know which filter to trust, all of which the last two paragraphs describe.

Differentiation

Support

Provide a labeled diagram showing rain carrying chemicals from the surface down into an aquifer and a well, and let students point to the stage each answer describes. Allow questions 1 through 3 to be answered in short phrases.

Extension

Ask students to write a short paragraph explaining, with evidence from the passage, why a family and a utility might each need to act rather than relying on only one of them to solve the problem.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "PFAS," "forever chemicals," "aquifer," and "certified" with simple definitions and an image for each. Provide a two-column note sheet where students collect "what PFAS are" on one side and "what people can do" on the other before answering.