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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Classroom Tips

From managing the technology to tips for transporting video files, this resource offers practical advice and strategies for video use.

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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Tunneling for Water: Geology and the Ohio River Tunnel Project

This video explains the importance of the Ohio River as a source of drinking water, its geologic origin, the rock strata exposed when Louisville Water Company dug a tunnel beside the river to access the water, and the meaning of the terms “aquifer” and “filtration."

Effective Video-Based Lessons

We offer you some hints, gathered over long experience of helping educators integrate video into their teaching, about how to make the most of VITAL video in your lessons.

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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Tunneling for Water: Understanding the Riverbank Filtration System

This video explores the importance of groundwater, the use of wells, and the unique nature of Louisville Water Company’s riverbank filtration system.

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.

Scale City: FAQs and Media List

This PDF answers questions teachers may have about Using Scale City To Teach Proportional Reasoning, including contact information. It also includes a Media List with the times of all the videos in the teaching modules that may be used to help plan a group professional development event around Using Scale City.

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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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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Tunneling for Water: Digging the Well and Treating the Water

This video examines the purpose, anatomy, and drilling of wells and looks specifically at how water moves through the Ohio River aquifer to the well and tunnel created by Louisville Water Company and how the water is treated to ensure its safety.

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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Tunneling for Water: Full-Length Version

This video documents a massive riverbank filtration project undertaken by Louisville Water Company, including the construction of four wells and a mile-long tunnel. It also explores related science and engineering topics including Ohio River geology, aquifers, and the function and structure of wells.

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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Empowerment

This video from Women, War & Peace demonstrates the power of women and suggests that presence of women at peace talks is essential.

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