Quiz & test questions Grade 6 Social Studies & Civics

Draymoor's Aging Water Pipes: A Grade 6 Unit Quiz

A grade 6 quiz on aging water infrastructure and utility spending, mixing multiple-choice, short-answer, and percent computation items around a fictional town's pipes.

Grade: Grade 6
Subject: Social Studies & Civics
Material: Quiz & test questions
Time: 25 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: None

Standards

6.RP.A.3 Common Core Math

Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems, e.g., by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations, including finding a percent of a quantity and converting measurement units.

How this material aligns: Items 4 through 6 ask students to find a percent of a stated pipe length and budget, using the ratio and percent reasoning this standard requires.

All materials for 6.RP.A.3 →

D2.Eco.1.6-8 C3 Framework

Explain how economic decisions affect the well-being of individuals, businesses, and society.

How this material aligns: Items 3, 7, and 8 ask students to explain how a town's spending choices on old pipes affect the well-being and bills of its residents.

All materials for D2.Eco.1.6-8 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will recall key facts about the condition and cost of US water infrastructure.
Students will calculate percents of a town's pipe length and budget and explain a spending trade-off.

Vocabulary

Water main: A big underground pipe that carries drinking water beneath the streets to a neighborhood. Smaller service lines branch off it to reach each building.

Also: infrastructure, budget, percent, trade-off

Teacher overview

This 25-minute quiz is worth 20 points. It checks whether students understand why the country's water pipes are aging and what it costs to fix them. The quiz mixes three multiple-choice items, two short-answer items, and three computation items. The computation items use percent with a fictional town's pipe length and budget. Real national facts appear as background for the recall and short-answer items.

Draymoor's Aging Water Pipes: A Grade 6 Unit Quiz — Grade 6 Social Studies & Civics

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Assessment

(2 points) In the 2025 national infrastructure report card, US drinking water systems received which grade?
- A) A
- B) C-
- C) F
- D) They were not graded.
(2 points) That same report card says a water main breaks in the US about how often?
- A) About once a year
- B) About once a month
- C) About every two minutes
- D) About every two hours
(2 points) The EPA estimates about $625 billion is needed over 20 years for drinking water systems, and most of that is for buried pipes. In one sentence, explain why fixing old pipes costs so much.
(3 points) The fictional town of Draymoor has 200 miles of water pipe. Each year it replaces 4 percent of its pipe. How many miles does it replace in one year?
(3 points) At 8 miles per year, how many years would it take Draymoor to replace all 200 miles of pipe?
(3 points) Draymoor's yearly pipe budget is $400,000. The council votes to raise it by 25 percent to speed up repairs. What is the new budget in dollars?
(2 points) National water and sewer bills rose about 24 percent from 2019 to 2024. Which statement is best supported by the facts in this quiz?
- A) Water service is getting cheaper.
- B) Paying for aging pipes is pushing bills up.
- C) Towns spend nothing on their pipes.
- D) Water mains never break.
(3 points) Item 5 shows it would take Draymoor many years to replace all its pipe at the current pace. Explain one reason the council might still decide not to raise the budget.

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: B) C-. The 2025 report card gave US drinking water a grade of C-.
Answer: C) About every two minutes. The report card states a water main breaks in the US roughly every two minutes.
Answer: Because there are so many miles of pipe buried underground, and distribution pipes make up about two-thirds of the national need, so replacing them adds up to a very large cost.
Answer: 8 miles. In this fictional scenario, 4 percent of 200 miles is 0.04 times 200, which equals 8 miles.
Answer: 25 years. Replacing 200 miles at 8 miles each year is 200 divided by 8, which equals 25 years.
Answer: $500,000. A 25 percent raise on $400,000 is 0.25 times 400,000, which is $100,000, so the new budget is 400,000 plus 100,000, or $500,000.
Answer: B) Paying for aging pipes is pushing bills up. Bills rose sharply while systems spend more to repair old pipes, which supports this statement.
Answer: Raising the budget would raise residents' water bills, which can be a burden for families, especially those with lower incomes, so the council must weigh faster repairs against affordability.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students the multiplication for item 4 already set up as 0.04 times 200, so they only finish the calculation. Allow a calculator for the computation items, and let them answer items 3 and 8 with a short phrase.

Extension

Ask students to find how many years Draymoor would need if it replaced 5 percent of its pipe each year instead of 4 percent, and to explain in one sentence why a small change in the yearly percent makes a large change in the total time.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "infrastructure," "water main," "budget," and "trade-off" with a picture of a pipe under a street and a simple before-and-after budget bar. Provide sentence frames for items 3 and 8: "This costs a lot because ___." and "The council might not raise the budget because ___."