The World's water is in short supply--at least in its usable form: do you agree?
Map Your Local Watershed! (Lesson Plan Grades 4-12 by Eric Hadd Georgia Middle School) http://academics.smcvt.edu/vtgeographic/lesson%20plans/map_local_watershed.htm
American Rivers.org--take a look at the nation's rivers. http://www.americanrivers.org/
American Rivers.org: Hurricane Katrina and American River's Statements on Wetlands, Watersheds, and Rivers http://www.americanrivers.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AMR_katrina_followup
The Mississippi River, in the USGS's "Status and Trends of the Nation's Biological Resources"--maps, photos, description, with information about the floodplain's decline. http://biology.usgs.gov/s+t/SNT/noframe/ms137.htm
Learn more about watersheds in general and find out who to contact about the watersheds in your state! Check out the video, "Everyone impacts a watershed!" http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/KYW/wspartners/statewscontacts.html
US Watersheds Map Interactive Map to community-based restoration projects that were identified by the USDA forest service. http://www.interactivewatersheds.net/uswtrmap.html
Does bacteria live best in hot or cold water? (One science experiment suggests that ice may have more bacteria than toilet water--it won a prize-- but I'd need to see what sort of meat and such surrounded the ice in the refrigerator and what sort of antiseptics were used in the other; in any case, it's generally thought that bacteria more dangerous to us is that which survives between room and body temperature.) Check out Peter Ward's "Rare Earth," which describes how bacteria survive in hot thermal vents http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0387952896/qid=1140214895/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-5835530-2951851?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
Check out the Mississippi. Find out about Katrina's effects. And map your own local watershed! Then investigate your watershed's ecosystem and check for signs of danger.