Investigation 4: Why is snow important in the southwestern United States?

In Investigation 4, students role-play U.S. Senators from seven Western states seeking to find solutions to important water problems in the Southwest: recurrent drought, which reduces vital snowpack resources, in the face of rapid population growth and therefore increasing demand on those resources. Information from satellite images, in tandem with ground-based perspectives, assist students in playing their roles as Senators. Because the investigation uses a case study in the United States, all statistics will be in English units. This conscious exception to the standard use of metric units reflects the real-world practice of American water resource managers.

9-12 Module 1 Investigation 4 in .pdf format

Investigaiton 4 Student Materials in .pdf format