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Classroom activity Grade 7 Social Studies & Civics

Who Decides About Ivycombe's Wells? A Card Sort

A grade 7 card sort in which groups assign 18 actions on a fictional town's contaminated wells to the federal, state, county, town, and household level.

Objectives

  1. Students will assign water system actions to the level of government that takes them.
  2. Students will place four actions in the order a real contamination response would follow.
  3. Students will explain why the level that sets a drinking water limit is not the level that pays for treatment.

Vocabulary

Contaminant
A contaminant is anything in water that should not be there, whether it is a germ, a chemical, or too much of a natural mineral, that could make the water unsafe or unpleasant to use. Treatment plants are built specifically to find and remove contaminants before water reaches the tap.
Action level
A trigger number in lead and copper testing. If too many homes test above this level, the utility must take steps like improving treatment and telling the public.

Also: permit, water board, rate increase

Teacher overview

Responsibility for drinking water is divided across five levels, from the federal agency that sets a limit down to the household that decides whether to install a filter. This card sort fixes one specific problem in place, a fictional town whose wells were contaminated by firefighting foam used at an old county airfield, and asks groups of four to assign eighteen concrete actions to the level that takes each one. The sorting itself teaches the concept, because the cards separate the level that sets the limit from the level that enforces it and from the level that pays the bill. A misconception the debrief targets directly is the belief that whoever writes a rule also funds it; in drinking water, the federal government usually sets the number and local ratepayers usually cover the cost of meeting it.

Activity Directions

Preparation. Print one card set per group of four, cut the cards apart, and clip each set together. Each set contains five level cards and eighteen action cards, all listed on the student handout.

  1. Setup (5 min): Seat students in groups of four and give each group one card set. Have groups lay the five level cards in a row across the desk: federal government, state environmental agency, county health department, town council and water board, households. Read the Ivycombe situation aloud from the handout so every group starts with the same facts.

  2. Round one, the sort (12 min): Groups place all eighteen action cards under one level each. Any card the group cannot agree on goes into a separate pile labeled "more than one level." Tell groups that this pile is allowed to have cards in it, and that they will have to defend whatever ends up there.

  3. Round two, the challenge (8 min): Pair each group with a neighboring group. Groups compare their sorts and find three cards they placed differently. For each of the three, one group states its reasoning and the other decides whether to move its card. A group may only move a card after saying out loud what convinced it.

  4. Round three, the timeline (10 min): Working from their sorted cards, groups arrange four specific actions in the order they would happen for the fictional town of Ivycombe. The four actions are named in handout item 5. Groups write the order on the handout and note which level acts at each step.

  5. Debrief (8 min): Bring the class together and work through handout items 1 through 4 and 6 aloud. Focus on the cards that landed in the "more than one level" pile, since those are usually the cards where two levels genuinely share a job.

  6. Close (2 min): Ask each student to write one sentence naming the level they would contact first if their own tap water tested above a limit, and why.

Who Decides About Ivycombe's Wells? A Card Sort — Grade 7 Social Studies & Civics
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

The situation. Ivycombe is a fictional town of about 11,000 people. It draws its drinking water from four town wells. For thirty years the county airfield just north of Ivycombe used firefighting foam during training. That foam contained PFAS chemicals, and some of it soaked into the ground.

Last spring, testing showed that two of Ivycombe's four wells hold PFOA and PFOS above the federal maximum contaminant level of 4 parts per trillion each. That limit was set in April 2024, and systems must meet it by April 2029. In May 2026, EPA proposed letting systems that qualify apply for two more years, until April 2031. A system would have to apply for the extra time, and the limit itself would stay the same. As of September 2026, the idea was still only a proposal. Ivycombe now has to decide what to do and how to pay for it.

The five level cards. Federal government. State environmental agency. County health department. Town council and water board. Households.

The eighteen action cards.

  • Sets the national legal limit for a chemical in drinking water.
  • Decides how many years systems have to meet a new limit.
  • Issues the permit that lets the town operate its water system.
  • Runs the certification exams that license water operators.
  • Reviews the town's quarterly test results and notifies it when a limit is exceeded.
  • Offers low-interest loans to towns building treatment systems.
  • Tests private wells for residents who ask, and advises them about filters.
  • Runs a free blood-testing clinic for residents who are worried about exposure.
  • Votes on whether to raise water rates to pay for treatment.
  • Hires the engineering firm that designs the treatment system.
  • Chooses which of the two affected wells to take out of service first.
  • Mails the yearly water quality report to every customer.
  • Holds the public hearing required before a rate increase takes effect.
  • Decides whether to join a lawsuit against the maker of the foam.
  • Installs a filter under the kitchen sink.
  • Reads the yearly water quality report and asks a question at the hearing.
  • Signs up for the town's bill assistance program.
  • Decides whether to keep buying bottled water for the family.

Questions. Answer these after your group finishes sorting.

  1. Which level sets the legal limit for a chemical in drinking water, and which level checks whether Ivycombe is meeting it?
  2. Which level votes on raising water rates to pay for treatment?
  3. Name two action cards that belong to households rather than to any government, and explain what they have in common.
  4. Which level would a resident with a private well outside town call for help, and why is that different from the level a town customer would call?
  5. Put these four actions in the order they would happen in Ivycombe: the town votes on a rate increase; the federal government sets a limit; the state notifies the town that two wells exceed the limit; the water board hires an engineering firm. Name the level acting at each step.
  6. The level that sets the limit is not the level that pays for the treatment. Explain why that split makes some Ivycombe residents frustrated, and give one reason the system is still built that way.

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: The federal government sets the limit and the state checks compliance.
    The federal government sets national drinking water limits, and it also decides the deadline for meeting them. The state environmental agency issues the operating permit, reviews the town's quarterly results, and notifies Ivycombe when a limit is exceeded.

  2. Answer: The town council and water board.
    The same level also holds the required public hearing before the increase takes effect, hires the engineering firm, and chooses which well to take out of service first.

  3. Answer: Installing a filter and deciding whether to buy bottled water.
    Accept any two of the four household cards, including reading the yearly report and asking a question at the hearing, and signing up for bill assistance. What they share is that each is a choice a family makes for itself, not a rule applied to everyone.

  4. Answer: The county health department.
    A private well is not part of the town system, so no state permit covers it and no town rate pays for it. The county health department tests private wells on request and advises owners about filters, while a town customer's water is covered by the town's permit and reported to the state.

  5. Answer: Federal limit, state notice, town rate vote, water board hires the firm.
    The federal government sets the limit first. The state environmental agency then reviews test results and notifies the town. The town council votes on a rate increase to pay for the work, and the water board hires the engineering firm once the money is committed. Accept a swap of the last two steps if the group explains that a town may hire a firm for design work before the rate vote.

  6. Answer: Residents pay for a decision made somewhere else.
    Ivycombe ratepayers cover the cost of meeting a limit they had no vote on, and the polluter was the airfield rather than the water system. A reason the system works this way is that a national limit protects everyone equally, while the cost of treatment depends on local conditions that only the local system can price. Accept any reasoned answer that names both halves.

Differentiation

Support (below grade level)

Give these students a card set for the fictional town with the five level cards already taped to a sorting mat and six of the eighteen action cards pre-placed as examples, two of them at the household level. Reduce the sort to the remaining twelve cards and allow the group to skip round two.

Extension (above grade level)

Ask students to write two new action cards that do not fit cleanly under one level, exchange them with another group, and then defend in writing why each card belongs where they placed it. Have them note which pair of levels shares the job most often.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "contaminant," "permit," "water board," and "rate increase" with a simple ladder drawing showing the five levels from federal at the top to households at the bottom. Print each action card with a one-word tag such as "test," "pay," "permit," or "inform," and allow item 6 to be answered in two short sentences using a provided frame.