Learning & Resources

General Knowledge, Science

• Hawaiʻi Coral Bleaching Collaborative (HCBC)
• UPDATE to The Tragedy of the Commons at SciAm
• USGS USA National Water Quality Dashboard
• USGS USA Tablero de Recursos Hídricos Nacionales
• US weekly from Natural Resources Conservation Service: Water and Climate Update (PDF downloads) focusing on seasonal snowpack, precipitation, temperature, and drought conditions.
• Water — Open Access Journal, peer-reviewed journal on water science and technology, including the ecology and management of water resources.
• The USA’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Science Education offers curriculum supplements for K–12 science teachers.
• Infographic: Water Quality Around the World (graphic)
• Hydroponics for Backyard Gardens
• US EPA — National Primary Drinking Water Regulations
• earth.org — 7 Solutions to Overfishing We Need Right Now
• seafoodwatch.org — Aquaculture: Manage Pollution & Disease

Some of the Basics:

• Popular: What Is Capillary Action? Great, fun refresher for adults, even better for homeschooling and grade school children.
• How Old is the Water We Drink?
• Climate Glossary — USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
• Why Groundwater Matters
• Water and Forests
• What Does a Water-Treatment Plant Do?
• What is El Niño (¡and La Niña!), and how does it affect the weather?
• NEW: How to Talk: “The Way We Talk About Water Matters: Insights from the 2022 National Waterways Literacy Survey”

Contaminants & Microplastics

• How Plastic Can Harm Your Health by Consumer Reports
• Tracking microplastic pollution to its sources will usually require identifying the particular plastics and, only then, its likely sources. One of only two public-access databases can be used with the assistance of tech instructions published in Nature.com publication Scientific Data:
  “A Raman spectral reference library of potential anthropogenic and biological ocean polymer”

• PFAs — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances by Consumer Notice
• How to Avoid PFAs by Consumer Notice

Regional Waters

• The Ocean Cleanup (part 1) by Deep Sea News
• The Ocean Cleanup (part 2) by Deep Sea News

Deal with Hurricanes and Floods

Thanks to Mickey Taylor at floodsafety.info for these links:

• Flash Flood Safety and Damage Prevention Guide
• Building Your Disaster Supply Kit
• What to Do to Keep Your Dog Safe Before and During a Flood
• What you should do if you get stuck driving in floodwaters
• How to Recover After a Hurricane
• Safe Cleaning After a Home Flood – What You Need to Know
• Mold and Flooded Homes

Testing Methods, Equipment, Procedures

• Remembering the basics: “Why is Water Quality Monitoring Important?”
• From USGS: National Field Manual for the Collection of Water-Quality Data
• “NEMI is a searchable database that allows scientists and managers to find and compare analytical and field methods for all phases of environmental monitoring.”
• Inexpensive chemical water-testing kits
• Detect Water Leaks with the 10-Minute WaterSense Challenge

Surface Waters

• National Inventory of Dams — locations and conditions

• Comprehensive: the USGS Water Science School’s Surface Water Information

• The ABC’s of Stormwater Pollution Prevention — educator resources from the City of Los Angeles Watershed Protection Program.

Groundwaters

Comprehensive: the USGS Water Science School’s Groundwater

• Daily Digest of California Water News — Maven’s Notebook does a superb job staying on top of the Golden State’s latest.
• California Water Library — an independently compiled collection of articles and reports covering all facets of California water.
• Groundwater Exchange — focusing on California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, this is an activity of the California Water Library
• John Hart :: Writer — love of land and love of language meet in the work of poet and environmental journalist John Hart.

Global & Oceans

• NOAA Tides&Currents website — current tide gauge water levels for U.S. locations
• NOAA Sea Level Trends page — plots of historic global sea level rise at tide gauges
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — “Ocean Acidification“

• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) — full text PDF
• UNCLOS — full text HTML, multilingual
• UNCLOS 2014 10-year report — Multilateral Diplomacy at Work
• UNCLOS 2022 op-ed — “Why the UN’s law of the sea needs an overhaul” World Economic Forum webpage
• UNCLOS 40-year observations — European Union statement