Project Grade 8 Health & Consumer Science
Keswold Heights Pump Outage: A Household Water Readiness Plan
Teams plan three days of safe water for a household on a fictional hilltop where power cuts stop the booster pump, then write a neighbor guide for the boil notice.
Objectives
- Students will explain how a power outage at a booster pump can lower water pressure and lead to a boil-water notice.
- Students will model a stored water supply with a linear function and show that a plan meets a three-day need within storage and budget limits.
- Students will write household health routines for drinking, cooking, tooth brushing, handwashing, and special needs under a boil-water notice.
- Students will produce a one-page neighbor guide that explains the risk and the routines in plain language.
Vocabulary
- Water pressure
- Water pressure is the push that makes water flow out of a faucet or hose. In town water systems, the push comes from pumps and from water stored high up in tanks and towers.
- Backflow
- Backflow is water flowing backward through a pipe in the wrong direction, which can pull dirty water into the clean drinking water system. Special devices are installed on pipes to stop it.
Also: booster pump, boil-water notice, rotation, linear function
Teacher overview
Keswold Heights is a fictional hilltop neighborhood whose tap water is pushed uphill by the Linden Road booster pump station. In our scenario, when storms knock out the power, the pump stops, water pressure on the hill falls, and the utility issues a boil-water notice until service returns and tests come back clean. Over four sessions, teams build a three-day water plan for one assigned household, model the stored supply with a linear function, write the health routines the household will follow under the notice, and present a one-page neighbor guide to a panel acting as the neighborhood association. Teaching note: students often think a boil-water notice means the water is known to be contaminated, or that the only risk is drinking a glass of it. The notice is usually a precaution, issued because low pressure can let outside water be drawn into the pipes, and the same water can carry germs into the body through tooth brushing, ice, and baby formula.
Project Brief
Driving question: How can a household on Keswold Heights stay healthy for three days when its tap water may not be safe to drink?
The situation. Water reaches the top of Keswold Heights because the Linden Road booster pump pushes it uphill. Water systems usually run at 40 to 80 psi. Most states require at least 20 psi, because lower pressure can let dirty water be pulled backward into the pipes through leaks, cracks, or garden hoses. This is called backflow. In our scenario, when a storm cuts power to the pump, pressure on the hill can drop below 20 psi within an hour, and the utility issues a boil-water notice. A backup generator is planned for the station, but it will not be installed until next year.
What the notice says (in our scenario). The Keswold Water Department's notice tells residents:
- Do not use tap water for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, or mixing baby formula unless it has been boiled or comes from safe storage.
- To boil water, bring it to a full rolling boil for one minute, then let it cool in a clean, covered container.
- Tap water with soap is fine for handwashing and bathing during this notice, but do not swallow bath or shower water.
- When the notice is lifted, throw out any ice made during the outage and run each cold tap for a few minutes before using it.
Your household. Your teacher will give your team one household card.
| Card | Who lives there | Special need | Stove type | Storage space (gallons) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 2 adults | A 6-month-old baby who drinks formula | Electric | 12 |
| B | 2 adults over 70 | One adult takes medicine with water each morning | Gas | 8 |
| C | 1 adult, 2 teenagers | A medium-sized dog | Electric | 14 |
| D | 2 adults, 3 children | The largest household on the street | Gas | 16 |
Constraints.
- The neighborhood association's planning guide (in our scenario) uses 1 gallon per person per day for drinking, cooking, and tooth brushing. Add half a gallon per day for a baby's formula and half a gallon per day for a medium-sized dog. The guide counts a baby by the formula allowance alone, not as a full person.
- The stored supply must last at least 3 days.
- The water you store cannot take up more gallons than the storage space on your card.
- The association gives each household 30 dollars (in our scenario). Sealed store-bought gallon jugs cost 1.50 dollars each. A refillable, food-grade 5-gallon container costs 12 dollars and is filled free from the tap before an outage.
- Water the household stores from its own tap must be replaced every 6 months, according to the association guide. Sealed store-bought water is kept until the date on its label.
- An electric stove will not work during a power outage, so households with electric stoves cannot boil water and must rely on storage. Gas stoves can still be used carefully.
Final deliverables. Your team turns in a household water plan (supply table, linear model and graph, storage and rotation schedule, and daily routine), a one-page neighbor guide, and a 4-minute presentation to a panel acting as the Keswold Heights Neighborhood Association.
Milestones
Session 1, the cause and the risk. Draw a cause-and-effect chain with at least five linked boxes, from the storm to the boil-water notice. Under the chain, explain in two or three sentences how low pressure can let germs into the pipes. Then list every way your household uses water in a day and mark each use "needs safe water" or "tap water is fine under the notice."
Session 2, the supply model. Calculate your household's daily need in gallons. Write a linear function in the form S = m × d + b, where d is the number of days, S is the gallons left, b is your starting supply, and m is the rate of change. Explain why m is negative. Graph the function, find the day your supply reaches zero, and show that your plan lasts at least 3 days without going over your storage space or your budget.
Session 3, the health routines. Write the household's daily routine under the notice, covering drinking, cooking, tooth brushing, handwashing, and the special need on your card. State whether your household can boil water during the outage and what that means for the plan. Add a cleaning and rotation schedule for stored water, with real dates for the next two years.
Session 4, the guide and the presentation. Produce a one-page neighbor guide of no more than 300 words plus one diagram. It must explain why the notice happens, list what needs safe water, and tell neighbors how to store and rotate water. Present your household plan and guide in 4 minutes and answer two questions from the panel.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Rubric
| Criterion | Emerging | Developing | Proficient | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cause and health risk | The chain is incomplete, and the team cannot say why the notice is issued. | The chain reaches the notice but skips the pressure drop or the backflow step. | The chain links the storm, power loss, pump, pressure below 20 psi, backflow, and notice, with a clear explanation of how germs could enter. | The chain is complete and the explanation also says why the notice is a precaution rather than proof of contamination. |
| Supply model and constraints | The daily need is wrong or missing, and no function is written. | A function is written, but the rate or starting value is wrong, or one constraint is broken. | The function uses the correct daily need and starting supply, the graph is accurate, and the plan meets the 3-day, storage, and budget limits. | The model is correct and the team compares two purchase options, explaining the trade-off it chose. |
| Health routines | Routines are missing or would allow unsafe water for drinking or formula. | Routines cover drinking but miss tooth brushing, ice, or the card's special need. | Routines cover every use on the list, the special need, and whether the household can boil, with a dated rotation schedule. | Routines are complete and anticipate a problem, such as a longer outage or a sick family member, with a backup step. |
| Neighbor guide and presentation | The guide is over length or unclear, and the presentation reads the plan aloud. | The guide explains the notice but gives few steps neighbors can follow. | The guide explains the cause, lists what needs safe water, and gives storage steps in plain language, and the team answers both panel questions. | The guide is clear enough for a neighbor to act on at once, and the team answers both questions with evidence from its plan. |
Differentiation
Support
Give these teams a partly completed cause-and-effect chain with the first and last boxes filled in, and a supply table with columns for people, gallons per person per day, extras, and total. Model household card B together as a class before teams begin their own card.
Extension
Ask teams to model what happens if the outage lasts five days instead of three, using the same function, and to propose one thing the neighborhood association could do for households that cannot store enough water, such as a shared supply point. Have them weigh that idea against its cost and who would manage it.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "booster pump," "pressure," "backflow," "boil-water notice," and "rotation" with a labeled side-view drawing of the hill, the pump, and a house. Allow the neighbor guide to use a numbered picture sequence alongside short sentences, and provide a sentence frame for the presentation: "Our household needs ___ gallons a day because ___."
Extensions
Students can ask their own family where drinking water would come from if the tap were unsafe for three days and compare their home to the household card they planned for. A water distribution operator or a county emergency manager can be invited to explain how their utility warns residents about low pressure and how it decides when a boil-water notice can be lifted.