Student Activity for the Map of the
Truckee-Carson-Walker River Systems

Trace the Watershed

Elisabeth M. Price
Lois Allen Elementary
2 January 1999

Investigative question: What factors can influence our watershed? Objective:

Identify and understand the meaning of a watershed.

Grade Level: Elementary School (1 - 6)

Background Information: The watersheds addressed with this map are those of the Truckee, Carson, and Walker Rivers. Select the watershed in which the school is located for study. The watershed includes the main river, tributaries and lakes, plus the hillsides from which water flows into those rivers, tributaries and lakes. Notice that the Truckee Canal from the Derby Dam joins the watersheds of the Truckee and the Carson Rivers, so this should be addressed separately from the discussion of the watershed.

Student Product:

Map with tracings of the rivers, tributaries, and lakes of a watershed area. Discussion of features that might affect the quality of the water such as locations of towns and industry upstream, and locations of water treatment and wastewater treatment plants.

Materials for each student:

Truckee-Carson-Walker River Systems map
Colored pencils, markers, or crayons
Nevada State road maps (for locations of roads and additional towns).

Procedure:

  1. In order for students to become familiar with the map, take the class outside with their maps to identify features the students can see from the schoolyard. Locate these features on the map, and locate the school on the map. Have the students in pairs, groups, or as a whole class discuss the way the features look on the shaded relief map and compare them to what the students actually see. If possible, take students to see the river or a tributary in the watershed they will be studying.
  2. Back in class, trace in blue the main river of the watershed: the Truckee, Carson, or Walker. Identify the beginning and end of the river. Color the beginning and ending lakes or sinks.
  3. Trace the tributaries in the same color. Discuss how water in the tributaries flows down from a hill side and intersects the main river.
  4. Color in blue any man-made reservoirs that are on the tributaries.
  5. Discuss the location of the rivers. If the students do not say the following points, tell the students that: A. Water runs down hill. B. Water cannot run up hill over a mountain or rise. C. The force of the water lets it move rocks out of the way and cuts a river valley.
  6. In green, draw an approximate boundary of the watershed by tracing mountain tops such that a watershed boundary is drawn around all of the rivers, tributaries, and lakes that are colored blue. Remember that the line cannot cross any river lines, colored or not.
  7. Use other maps as necessary (Nevada State road maps) to locate towns, railroads, and roads within the watershed area. Mark these in orange.
  8. Discuss in small groups factors that could affect water quality. List factors the students find: towns, steep slopes, industry, roads.
  9. Investigate water treatment before and after use by locating the water treatment and waste water treatment plants for the big towns in the watershed area. Mark these locations in purple.

Extensions:

  1. Locate and discuss the changes made by the man-made diversions from one river basin to another: Derby Dam and the Truckee Canal to take water from the Truckee to the Carson watershed; the inverted siphon that takes water from Marlette Lake near Lake Tahoe to Virginia City.