Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets Water

Earth's Plumbing System Water

---

Earth's Plumbing System
Print Earth's Plumbing System Reading Comprehension with Fourth Grade Work

Print Earth's Plumbing System Reading Comprehension with Fifth Grade Work

Print Earth's Plumbing System Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print Earth's Plumbing System Reading Comprehension

Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	high interest, readability grades 4 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	4.71

Vocabulary

challenging words:

aquifers, permeable, streambed, watershed, discharge, surface, supplied, zone, recharge, wells, schedule, groundwater, natural, aquifer, meters, volcanic

---

Earth's Plumbing System By Patti Hutchison

---

¹     Surface water, groundwater, springs, lakes, and rivers: They all work together to give us a kind of natural plumbing system. We rely on this system for the water we use every day. But how does it all work?
 
²     You know that a watershed is an area that is drained by a stream system. But did you know that groundwater is also part of the watershed?
 
³     Some of the water that falls to Earth's surface seeps into the ground. This is called recharge. The area where the soil is permeable is called the recharge area. The groundwater soaks slowly into the earth until it comes to a layer it can't get through. Then it flows sideways into an aquifer.
 
⁴     People can drill wells into the aquifer to help get the water to the surface. Or, it may reach the surface on its own. Groundwater is connected to surface water. The connection is usually through springs and wetlands. As the water flows under the ground, it may reach a discharge zone. This is an area where the water table is above the ground level.
 
⁵     A spring is a kind of discharge zone. A spring might flow right out of the ground. Or it may flow into a lake or wetland. Have you ever been swimming in a lake or pond and suddenly come to a cold spot? Chances are that is where a spring feeds into it. The groundwater is much colder than the surface water in the lake or pond.

Paragraphs 6 to 12:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

---

Weekly Reading Books

Create Weekly Reading Books Prepare for an entire week at once!

---

Feedback on Earth's Plumbing System

Leave your feedback on Earth's Plumbing System   (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

Water

Water

---

More Lessons

Special Education Science Materials for Teachers

---

Science

Science

Careers in Science         Caring for Earth         Clouds         Dinosaurs         Earth's Land         Earth         Earthquakes         Electricity         Energy         Erosion         Food Pyramid         Food Webs and Food Chain         Forces and Motion         Fossils         Health and Nutrition         How Things Work         Landforms         Life Science         Light         Magnets         Matter

Moon         Natural Disasters         Photosynthesis         Plant and Animal Cells         Plants         Rocks and Minerals         Science Process Skills         Scientific Notation         Seasons         Simple Machines         Soil         Solar System         Sound         Space and Stars         Sun         Tsunami         Volcanoes         Water Cycle         Water         Weather

Copyright © 2025 edHelper