Acid Mine Drainage and Precipitates

In this video, environmental scientists measure the pH of water to detect acid mine drainage from an abandoned coal mine and then demonstrate how metals present in acid drainage fall out of solution as precipitates when a basic substance is added to the water.

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Controlling Water Run-off

This video shows how the environmentally friendly design of the Visitor Center at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville slows down water run-off and helps to control non-point-source water pollution, conserve water, and prevent soil erosion

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Environmental Impact of Acid Mine Drainage

This video shows how acid mine drainage from an abandoned coal mine has affected Wildcat Branch in Kentucky's Daniel Boone National Forest. Because the creek has a very acidic pH of 2.9, most organisms cannot survive there, and Wildcat Branch is essentially dead.

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Reusing Wastewater

This video demonstrates how peat filtration beds at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky purify and conserve wastewater and eliminate one cause of non-point-source water pollution.

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The Geology of Coal

In this video, a geologist describes how coal, a sedimentary rock, was formed when organic materials piled up in swamps millions of years ago. Over time, heat and pressure transformed the buried materials into forms of coal that cause acid mine drainage when exposed to oxygen.

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Recycling and Restoration

This video explains how Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky used recycled cypress from pickle vats to build its visitor center and then “paid back” nature by creating a cypress-tupelo swamp at one end of a lake on the park grounds.

Tunneling for Water: Digging the Tunnel and Prehistoric Water!

This video traces the construction of Louisville Water Company’s riverbank filtration system, including the unexpected discovery of a reservoir of prehistoric water.

High-Sulfur Coal and Acidic Water

In this video, a geologist measures the pH of water after high-sulfur coal from a Kentucky coal mine has been added to it. This test demonstrates that the sulfate salts found on the coal’s surface cause the water to become much more acidic.

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Think Garden: The Importance of Water

This video explores why plants need water to survive, and how they tell us they’re thirsty. Learn about the part water plays in the process of photosynthesis, and find out how to conserve and improve water quality. Also an animation explains the water cycle and transpiration process.

Rain Gardens

This video shows how a rain garden at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky slows down the flow of water from the forest’s parking lot and helps prevent soil erosion.

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Mycoremediation

This video explores the process of mycoremediation: planting fungi such as oyster mushrooms to mitigate non-point-source water pollution caused by oil, gasoline, and other toxic substances.

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Restoring Lower Rock Creek

This brief video describes how Lower Rock Creek’s location between two National Wild and Scenic Rivers caused Kentucky environmentalists to choose the creek as a target for acid mine drainage remediation.

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Acid Mine Drainage Remediation

In this video, an environmental technologist visits an abandoned coal mine in Kentucky to talk about how a remediation system (a series of settling ponds and treatment cells) is neutralizing the acid drainage flowing from the mine and keeping it from damaging a creek downstream.

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Applying the Scientific Method

This video provides a real-life example of the scientific method: testing hypotheses about which plants will grow most successfully on a green roof in Kentucky.

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Results of Acid Mine Drainage Remediation

In this video, a biologist visits Rock Creek in Pulaski County, Kentucky to show how acid mine drainage remediation has increased the stream’s pH from acidic levels to almost neutral. Although the ecosystem has not been completely restored, many species have returned to Rock Creek.

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Stream Restoration

This video explores how Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky has restored a channelized or straightened stream to its original meandering path, thereby improving the stream’s water quality and creating a better habitat for wildlife.

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Aquatic Insects

In this brief video, a biologist talks about the macroinvertebrates (typically aquatic insects) that form the basis of food webs in healthy Kentucky streams.

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Detached Wetlands

This video depicts a detached wetland, a small pool that forms beside a shallow meandering stream when it overflows its banks. These wetlands are important breeding grounds for the invertebrates that live in and beside streams

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Acid Rock WebQuest

Acid Mine Drainage and Its Impact on Water Quality

Agricultural Runoff and the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone

This video segment adapted from Big River: A King Corn Companion shows how agricultural chemicals from the Midwest that travel downstream in water runoff create a vast marine "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Atrazine Affects the Water Supply

In this video segment featuring live-action animation, adapted from Big River: A King Corn Companion, see how the agricultural pesticide atrazine impacts both crops and human health.

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California's Lost Salmon

Salmon have disappeared from more than 40 percent of their range in the West. In this video from QUEST produced by KQED, learn about the important role these fish play in native ecosystems.

Chicken Waste and Water Pollution

In this video segment adapted from FRONTLINE: “Poisoned Waters,” learn how unregulated waste from large-scale chicken farms contributes to water pollution.

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Climate Change Affects Glacial Water Source

Mountain glaciers are an important source of fresh water for the people of Peru. In this video segment produced by ThinkTV, learn how climate change is affecting the quantity and quality of available fresh water produced by glaciers in the Andes.

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Contaminating the Rockies

Learn how abandoned mines have been contaminating water supplies in the Rocky Mountains for decades in this video segment adapted from NOVA: "Poison in the Rockies."

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Kerri-Ann Richard

In this video from Science City, Kerri-Ann Richard, an environmental engineer, describes how she became interested in the field and why it is important to clean up the environment by removing contaminants from soil and ground water.

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Farm Nitrates in the Water Supply

Learn how nitrate runoff from farm fertilizers can negatively impact human health and how a water treatment plant is tackling the challenge, in this video excerpted from Big River.

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Farm Solutions to Water Pollution

In this KET video from Common Ground and Cleaner Water, Tribby Vice, a Kentucky farmer, talks about the changes he has made on his farm to protect the water quality of the stream running through his property and the watershed in which he lives.

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Fracking

In this video segment adapted from Need to Know, learn about the controversial method of extracting natural gas known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and how some residents who live near drill sites are concerned that it's polluting their water.

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From Salt Ponds to Wetlands

Biologists are working to restore the San Francisco Bay Area salt ponds to healthy wetlands for wildlife in one of the largest restoration projects on the West Coast. In this video from QUEST produced by KQED, students learn why wetlands are important to wildlife.

From Waste to Watts

A new source of energy is coming from neither the sun nor the wind but from a dairy farm. In this video from QUEST produced by KQED, learn how a new project can transform gourmet waste from restaurants into green power.

Global Water Distribution

How much water on Earth is fresh water? How much of that fresh water is found in icecaps? Lakes? Rivers? This interactive resource uses bar graphs to illustrate the relative distribution of fresh and salt water on Earth. Adapted from Oxford University Press.

In Small Doses: Arsenic

In this video segment adapted from In Small Doses: Arsenic, learn how naturally occurring arsenic moves into groundwater and how much is too much for human consumption.

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La'ona DeWilde: Environmental Biologist

In this video profile produced for Teachers' Domain, meet La'ona DeWilde, an environmental biologist who integrates her Athabascan heritage and her Western scientific training to help remote Alaskan villages address environmental issues.

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New Contaminants in the Water Supply

In this video segment adapted from FRONTLINE: “Poisoned Waters,” hear about the challenges facing water treatment facilities and environmental regulators as they try to keep up with new chemicals found in the water supply.

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Oil Spill: Exxon Valdez, 1989

This video segment adapted from NOVA follows the clean-up effort after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska. Also featured is a marsh where an oil spill occurred 20 years earlier; analysis suggests that environmental damage may last for decades.

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Pennsylvania Stream Water Treatment Systems

The video asks who will be around to keep water treatment systems going, monitor the quality of streams, and create new initiatives to keep water sources clean. A number of programs address these issues and get young people involved in environmental and conservation activities.

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Poisoned Waters: How Can Communities Fight Industrial Pollution?

From FRONTLINE Poisoned Waters, this video explores how communities can fight industrial pollution.

Poisoned Waters: How Can We Save Habitat for Endangered Species?

From FRONTLINE Poisoned Waters, this video discusses the importance of preserving natural habitats for flora and fauna.

Poisoned Waters: How Does Land Use Affect Water Quality?

From FRONTLINE Poisoned Waters, this video explores the connections between land use and the quality of water.

Poisoned Waters: Is There a Smarter Way to Grow?

From FRONTLINE Poisoned Waters, this video looks at one community's efforts to grow while preserving the environment.

Poisoned Waters: What's In Your Drinking Water?

From FRONTLINE Poisoned Waters, this video investigates the startling new contaminants in drinking water.

Poisoned Waters: What Are the Costs of Sprawl?

From FRONTLINE Poisoned Waters, this video examines the environmental costs of urban sprawl.

Poisoned Waters: What Is the Biggest Polluter of Water?

From FRONTLINE Poisoned Waters, this video investigates the impact of agricultural waste on waterways like the Chesapeake Bay.

Poisoned Waters: What Warning Signals Does Nature Give Us?

From FRONTLINE Poisoned Waters, this video explores nature's warning signals about the impact on humans on the environment.

Poisoned Waters: Why Is Stormwater Runoff a Major New Threat?

From FRONTLINE Poisoned Waters, this video investigates the new environmental threats from stormwater runoff.

Pollution Along the Rhine River

This video segment adapted from Race to Save the Planet discusses the effects of water pollution along the Rhine River and its impact on local wildlife.

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Raising the pH

Passive Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage

Safeguarding Alaska's Waters

In this interactive activity, learn about strategies used in Prince William Sound, Alaska, to help avoid oil spills and to identify and contain environmental contaminants. The activity features videos adapted from the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council, KTOO, and NOVA: "The Big Spill".

Salmon Move into Deeper Waters

For generations, Native Americans have depended on their observations of nature for their survival. In this video segment adapted from Northwest Indian College, an Elder recalls how fishermen suspected the water was warming after observing salmon retreating to deeper waters.

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Saving California's Salmon

In this video from QUEST produced by KQED, learn how local biologists and volunteers are working to bring back the native salmon habitat after decades of human influence.

Saving Coho Salmon

Marine biologists say the future looks grim for Coho salmon. In this audio report from QUEST produced by KQED, find out how they’re looking for ways to stop the fish from being sucked into what they call “the vortex of extinction."

Sewage Happens

Sewage spills happen all the time. In this audio report from QUEST produced by KQED, learn about why much of the blame lies beneath our feet.

Sewage Spills Increasing

How much sewage makes its way into our water? In this audio report from QUEST produced by KQED, learn about the factors that are adding up to a potential disaster of septic proportions.

Solar Still Part I: Salt Water

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members assemble a solar still and make fresh water from saltwater, demonstrating two steps of the water cycle, evaporation and condensation.

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Solar Still Part II: Juice

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members test their solar still to see if they can make fresh water from orange juice.

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Underground Stream Water Treatment Systems

Cook’s Run has an underground water treatment program for a particularly high level of acid mine drainage. The technology used in Cook’s Run was transferred to Pennyslvania from Western metal mines and may prove helpful for other parts of the Appalachian coal region. A watershed group member notes the lack of aquatic life in many Pennsylvania streams as a disgrace.

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Unique Species of Kentucky's Green River

This KET video from Kentucky's Last Great Places shows how the Green River has remained unusually clean and why it is home to several endangered aquatic species.

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Urban Solutions to Water Pollution

In this KET video segment from Louisville Life, high school students in Louisville, Kentucky describe the benefits of creating rain gardens as a solution to non-point source water pollution.

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Wastewater Woes: Sewage Spills in SF Bay

In this video from QUEST produced by KQED, find out how the large numbers of sewage spills into San Francisco Bay are forcing a closer look at wastewater and its impacts on the health of the bay.

Water Conservation: Israel

This video segment adapted from Last Oasis shows how Israel has attempted to meet the challenge of providing enough water for agricultural needs. Featured are two methods: recycled water and drip irrigation.

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Watershed Associations

Watershed groups have a national impact. The video shows that it is easy to get involved with a watershed group, without committing a lot of time, and to see the effects quickly. An expert points out the cumulative effect of efforts to clean up rivers on the overall health of the nation’s river systems. In Pennsylvania abandoned mine drainage is a challenge for watershed groups.

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What Happens When an Oil Spill Occurs?

This interactive activity from McDougal Littell/TERC visualizes the effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, factors that influence oil spill behavior and impact, and techniques used to contain and clean up oil spills at sea.

What Is a Watershed?

Large or small, urban or rural, most watersheds have certain attributes in common. This segment from KET’s Raindrops to Rivers uses animation to show the full scope of a watershed from its collection to its final destination.

What’s in Your Stream?

A Survey of Water Quality in Pennsylvania Streams

Who Owns the Water of the Great Lakes?

In this video segment from Planet H₂0: Water World, experts and teens inside and outside the Great Lakes watershed provide different perspectives on sharing the water from one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the world.

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