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Quiz & test questions Grade 6 Social Studies & Civics

Pallant Springs Water Department: A Grade 6 Civics Quiz

A 21-point grade 6 quiz on who runs and regulates a town water system, mixing multiple choice, short answer, and percent and unit-rate computation.

Objectives

  1. Students will identify which level of government sets, enforces, and carries out drinking water rules.
  2. Students will compute a daily average, a percent of a bill, and a charge from a rate per thousand gallons.
  3. Students will justify a spending choice by naming who it helps.

Vocabulary

Key words: utility, regulation, rate, public hearing, license

Teacher overview

This quiz closes a unit on how a town water system is governed and paid for, using the fictional town of Pallant Springs as the running case. It is worth 21 points and mixes three multiple-choice items, four short-answer items, and five computation items drawn from grade 6 ratio and percent work. Teachers may give it as a full-period assessment or split it, using items 1 through 5 as a midpoint check. The last item is an extended response and is the one most worth reading closely, since it shows whether students can name who gains and who loses from a spending choice.

Pallant Springs Water Department: A Grade 6 Civics Quiz — Grade 6 Social Studies & Civics
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Assessment

Pallant Springs runs its own water system. The town draws from a river intake and two wells, treats the water at one plant, and sends it out through 40 miles of pipe. Use this setting for every item below. Show your work on computation items.

  1. Which level of government sets the national limits for contaminants in drinking water? (1 point)
    A. The town council
    B. The county sheriff
    C. The US Environmental Protection Agency
    D. The plant's billing office

  2. Who runs the day-to-day operation of the Pallant Springs system? (1 point)
    A. The town water department
    B. The state legislature
    C. A federal inspector who lives in town
    D. The company that sells the town its pipes

  3. Name one thing a state drinking water program does that the town cannot do for itself. (1 point)

  4. Suppose Pallant Springs pumped 21,600,000 gallons over 30 days. What was the average number of gallons per day? (2 points)

  5. Suppose the town delivers 720,000 gallons per day to 2,400 households. What is the average number of gallons per household per day? (2 points)

  6. Suppose a monthly water bill in Pallant Springs is $48, and $12 of that bill pays for pipe repair. What percent of the bill pays for pipe repair? (2 points)

  7. The council raises the same monthly bill from $48 to $54. By what percent did the bill rise? (2 points)

  8. Pallant Springs charges $3.20 for each 1,000 gallons. A household uses 9,000 gallons in a month. What is the water charge for that month? (2 points)

  9. A resident wants to speak against a proposed rate increase. Where should she go? (1 point)
    A. The public hearing held by the town council
    B. The state capital, on any weekday
    C. The plant's front gate at shift change
    D. Nowhere, because rates are set in secret

  10. The plant's operators must hold a state license. Explain why the state requires a license instead of letting each town decide on its own. (2 points)

  11. Pallant Springs draws from a river intake and from two wells. Explain one reason a town benefits from having more than one source of water. (2 points)

  12. The council has $200,000 left this year. It can replace old water mains on Ash Street or add a second pump at the plant. Name one group each choice would help, then state which you would fund and give one reason. (3 points)

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: C. The US Environmental Protection Agency sets the national limits. The town council sets local rates and the state enforces the federal limits, but neither writes the national standard.
  2. Answer: A. The town water department runs the system day to day. The state and the federal government set and enforce rules, but they do not operate the plant.
  3. Answer: Accept any one of the following: enforce the national limits, license and test operators, inspect the plant, review plans for new construction, or lend money for projects. The state can act across every system in the state, while the town can only act on its own.
  4. Answer: 720,000 gallons per day. Divide 21,600,000 gallons by 30 days.
  5. Answer: 300 gallons per household per day. Divide 720,000 gallons by 2,400 households. This matches the EPA WaterSense figure of about 300 gallons per day for an average US household.
  6. Answer: 25 percent. Divide 12 by 48, which gives 0.25.
  7. Answer: 12.5 percent. The increase is 54 minus 48, which is 6. Divide 6 by 48 to get 0.125.
  8. Answer: $28.80. Nine thousand gallons is 9 units of 1,000 gallons, and 9 times $3.20 is $28.80.
  9. Answer: A. Rate changes are decided at a public hearing where residents may speak, which is the point of holding the hearing before the vote.
  10. Answer: Accept any answer noting that treatment decisions affect public health beyond one town. A license means every operator has passed the same exam and keeps training, so the standard does not change with each town council or each hire.
  11. Answer: Accept any answer naming a benefit of a backup. If the river is muddy after a storm, or a well is taken out of service for repair, the town can still deliver water from the other source.
  12. Answer: Accept any answer that names a group for each option and defends a choice. Replacing mains helps Ash Street residents and anyone whose service is interrupted by breaks. A second pump helps the whole town on peak days and during a pump failure. Full credit requires one named group per option, a stated choice, and one supporting reason.

Differentiation

Support

Provide a version with items 4 and 5 broken into two steps each, and a labeled diagram of the system showing the river intake, the two wells, the plant, and the pipes. Allow a calculator and a word bank of the three levels of government for items 1, 2, and 3.

Extension

Ask these students to write an extra answer option for items 1, 2, and 9 that would tempt a classmate who studied only lightly, and to explain what misunderstanding each option would reveal. They may also rewrite item 12 as a question with three funding options rather than two.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "council," "hearing," "license," "rate," and "main," and note that "rate" here means a price per amount of water, not speed. Provide sentence frames for items 10 through 12: "The state requires a license because ___." and "I would fund ___ because ___."