SDWF is urgently in need of donors. Every penny and every drop counts!
Unfortunately, all of the funding for Operation Water Drop and Operation Water Pollution kits through the Green Street website has been used. Many teachers are on the waiting list for sponsored Operation Water Drop and Operation Water Pollution kits. If you would like to use the Operation Water Drop and/or Operation Water Pollution program in your classroom and need a sponsored kit please e-mail the following information to info@safewater.org: your school's name, complete mailing address, what type(s) of kits and how many of each type of kit you would like. We will add your school to the growing waiting list.
Canadian Teachers are Waiting for Over 1300 Sponsored Kits to be Sent to their Schools
Canadian teachers are currently waiting for over 1300 sponsored Operation Water Drop and Operation Water Pollution kits to be sent to their schools. Individuals and companies can sponsor kits for schools. If you/your company sponsors kits, you/your company will be acknowledged in the letter that accompanies the kit. You can even decide in which geographic area your kits will be dispersed. Please e-mail info@safewater.org if you would like to sponsor Operation Water Drop and/or Operation Water Pollution kits or if you would like more information.
View Previous Webinars!
To view the recordings of previous webinars please click here. For more information about our webinars and/or to register for webinars click here.
Thanks to our sponsors!
SM Blair Foundation
A big thank you to all of our anonymous donors as well.
SDWF Advanced Aboriginal Water Treatment Team (AAWTT) are knowledgeable about all aspects of water treatment and how to ensure your community (Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal) has safe drinking water. They are happy to come and make a presentation at your next conference or workshop. For more information email admin@safewater.org
Operation Water Health is designed for use in both Elementary and High School classrooms. This program directly connects with Health, Science and Social Studies curricula and is set up as content-integrated lessons. Teachers may choose to present one of the lessons or all of the lessons as they find the material to be most suitable or applicable for their students and related subject lesson plans. The series of eight lessons guides students through an examination of health issues associated with water. The students develop definitions for both healthy and unhealthy drinking water and these definitions serve as the backbone for the other lessons in this program.
Through a variety of activities and cooperative learning strategies, the students explore common disease causing microbes found in water, how these microbes are removed or inactivated in water with water treatment and the diseases these microbes cause when they are not identified and treated in drinking water systems. Students also examine the role the federal and provincial governments play in drinking water quality, how aboriginal communities are affected by unhealthy drinking water quality and what each student can do to improve drinking water quality in their community.
How it works
Lesson plans, power point presentations and all resources are available online, for review and for teachers to print.
Cost
There is no cost for the program; lessons may be downloaded at any time from the Safe Drinking Water website free of charge. We do ask that teachers register before downloading simply to monitor teacher evaluations which help us to improve the lessons annually.
Operation Water Health Lesson Plans
This project has been made possible by the generous support of the following donors:
Arc Angelo Family Foundation
AAWTT is a team of volunteer participants dedicated to the advancement of water treatment processes on aboriginal reservations in Canada. Team members will help each other resolve water treatment problems when using advanced water treatment processes. The team is supported by one groundwater laboratory located at Gordon’s FN, Saskatchewan (almost completed), and one surface water laboratory (paid for by band funds) located at Saddle Lake Cree Nation, Alberta. At these two locations R&D into advanced water treatment processes is carried out on a daily basis. Both laboratories are integrated with the regular operation of advanced water treatment processes. Each plant will also become part of the bigger picture where improvements are being documented and shared with other participants.
Operation Water Drop:
Operation Water Drop (OWD) is the Safe Drinking Water Foundation’s longest standing education program! Elementary kits allow teachers to demonstrate to students how to test their community drinking water for 8 parameters included in the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality. High school kits allow students to conduct hands-on tests for 13 different parameters and compare their results to other urban and rural treated drinking water supplies, a raw source water sample and Canadian guidelines vs. U.S. and EU regulations. OWD is also available in French. The DVD “Downstream” is included in every OWD kit!
Operation Water Pollution:
Operation Water Pollution (OWP) can be taught in science and social studies, OWP kits educate students about the various forms of water pollution, how water pollution affects the world, how it is cleaned up, and what they can do to help. Digital TDS and pH meters are included in the kit and students learn why they are important factors to be monitored and why they should be kept at appropriate levels. OWP is also available in French. The DVD “Crapshoot” is included in every OWP kit!
Operation Water Flow:
Operation Water Flow (OWF) gives students a greater understanding of economic, social and environmental concerns surrounding water issues in Canada. Operation Water Flow can be taught in math, biology, chemistry, science and social studies. Each of the lessons lead naturally into the many other programs now available from the Safe Drinking Water Foundation. OWF is also available in French.
Operation Water Spirit:
Operation Water Spirit (OWS) supports and encourages a greater understanding of Aboriginal culture and beliefs related to water issues. A teacher resource has been added to encourage and support teachers in introducing Aboriginal culture into their classrooms and a session on Aboriginal identity which is very compelling has also been added. There are many stories included for each grade level and the stories are now available in Cree in both written and audio versions.
Operation Water Health:
Operation Water Health (OWH) provides an opportunity to investigate health issues such as waterborne illnesses and contaminated water, and encourages students to do their part to “make a difference”. OWH is also available in French.
COMING SOON!
Operation Water Biology:
Operation Water Biology (OWB) includes hands-on experiments and activities that demonstrate many of the principles of the water treatment process to students. It begins with the way that different chemicals are used and dealt with by conventional treatment facilities and proceeds to show new and interesting ways that natural biological processes can be used to produce exceptionally pure water while minimizing chemical use and environmental impacts.
Operation Community Water Footprint:
Operation Community Water Footprint (OCWF) allows students to analyze how efficient the process of converting fresh water to treated drinking water is in their communities. Then, they can “place their community on the map” on the Safe Drinking Water Foundation’s website (www.safewater.org) and compare their community’s water footprint to that of other communities and take action if their community’s water footprint is too large.
A donation of only $3.00 from each person who visits would help to ensure the delivery of our popular education programs OWD, OWP, OWF, OWS, OWH, OWB and OCWF to teachers across Canada. Currently, Canadian teachers are waiting for over 1300 sponsored Operation Water Drop and Operation Water Pollution kits to be sent to them. Donations will also allow our AAWTT to make it possible for water treatment plants in First Nation communities to produce safer drinking water.
Individual members will receive their choice of the DVD "Downstream" or the DVD "Crapshoot". If individual members provide a donation of $20.00 or more in addition to the minimum $20.00 amount then they will receive both the DVD "Downstream" and the DVD "Crapshoot".
Community and Corporate members will receive both the DVD "Downstream" and the DVD "Crapshoot".
Thanks to our corporate sponsors:
SM Blair Foundation
* We are non-profit, non-governmental, registered Canadian charity #868384892 and we issue official receipts for income tax purposes for donations of $10.00 or more.