Key Concepts
• Urban water, power, and sewer cycles depend on infrastructure, including
conduits for moving water and power from their sources to where they are
used, and systems for controlling surface water, processing wastewater,
and releasing treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean and bay.
• Many different people and jobs are involved in sourcing, extracting, and
delivering water and energy resources, and processing wastewater.
• A variety of energy sources can be used to power human activities, and
the energy must often be transmitted from its source to its destination.
• Individual decisions about when and how much energy to use affect
the electrical power system, which must match demand with supply
on a real-time basis.
Standards Connections
Next Generation Science Standards
SCIENCE AND
ENGINEERING PRACTICES
SAMPLE STUDENT ENGAGEMENT, GRADES 9–12
Developing and
Model your community’s watershed using a mapping application
such as Integrated Water Information System’s interactive mapping
program (available at www.water.ca.gov/iwris/), which focuses on
California public water systems.
Using Models
BIG IDEAS
|
Grades 9–12
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SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
75