Name_________________________________ Date__________________________________

Water Treatment WebQuest

SAFE DRINKING WATER! How do we get it? What process does water go through to become safe enough to drink? Read the following websites to find out. Use this diagram and the one on the second website to help you learn about this process. (All links are found on my website!) Go to: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/kids/watertreatmentplant/ & http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/images-water-quality/public-water-treatment.gif Water enters the treatment plant from a river, reservoir or well and is first screened to remove leaves, twigs and other large objects. Write 2-3 sentences describing what happens in the next steps of the water treatment. Coagulation: _________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Sedimentation: _______________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Filtration: ___________________________ ___________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Disinfection: _____________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ (Sometimes other treatments such as fluoridation or pH adjustment may occur at the end of this stage.) Storage:________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________ (After storage, water travels via pipelines to homes and businesses.)

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SALEM’S DRINKING WATER – Find out how we get our water! Go to http://www.ci.salem.va.us/depts/water/index.html and read about Salem’s Water Treatment Plant. You will also need to go to the links titled “Frequently Asked Questions” and “Water & Sewer Rates” for information to answer these questions. 1. When did Salem open its new Water Treatment Plant? ___________________________________ 2. How much drinking water is this facility capable of producing each day? ______________________ 3. This treatment plant draws water from two sources. What are they? ___________________________________ and ________________________________ 4. Does Salem add fluoride to the water? ________________ Why or why not? _________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 5. Why is chlorine added to our water? _________________________________________________ 6. What are two things you can do to remove the chlorine from your water if you don’t like its taste or odor?___________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 7. What would it cost a Salemite to purchase 5000 gallons of clean water? (Show work….) ______________________________________________________________________________ Does that seem expensive to you? ____________ Why or why not? __________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ At this point in your WebQuest, you have not learned about sewage treatment (the process that cleans wastewater back to ‘useable’ water). However, since you are on the Salem rates page, look at the rates charged by the city to take wastewater (any water that goes down the drain or toilet) away from a home or business. 8. What would it cost a Salemite to get rid of 5000 gallons of ‘used’ water (sewage)? (Show work!) _______________________________________________________________________________ 9. If you did your math correctly, you will see that it costs more to get rid of dirty water than it does to get clean water. What do you think about this fact? ______________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ What is your hypothesis as to why this is so? _____________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 10. What has surprised you the most about what you have found out today? ______________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Is there something you still want to know and haven’t found out yet? ______________ If so, what is it? _______________________________________________________________________________ Go to http://www.epa.gov/safewater/kids/flash/flash_qagame.html for a fun review.

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Name __________________________________

Water Treatment WebQuest

Now that you know how water is made safe to drink, what happens to water that goes down the drain or toilet? Follow the path the WebQuest takes you to discover the answer! Go to http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/wuww.html Read what wastewater is and why we treat it. Wastewater is ___________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ What are some reasons why we treat wastewater? a. _____________________________________________________________________________ b. _____________________________________________________________________________ c. _____________________________________________________________________________ d. _____________________________________________________________________________ Now go to http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/wwvisit.html to identify and briefly describe the steps of the wastewater treatment process.

Step 1: _______________________This is _____________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Step 2: _______________________This is ____________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Step 3: _______________________This is ____________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Step 4: _______________________This is ____________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Step 5: _______________________This is ____________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Step 6: _______________________This is ____________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Step R: _______________________This is ____________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________

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Check out the diagram on the following website. (You will have to scroll down to see it.) Read and follow its steps and see how it relates to the diagram on the previous page. www.aboutus.org/Drinking_Water_Quality_And_The_Contamination_of_Public_Drinking_Supplies See the virtual tour of the Roanoke Valley’s Sewage Treatment Facility http://www.westernvawater.org/WebMgmt/ywbase61b.nsf/vwContentByKey/N2686QYD890CDATEN and specifically click on the Biosolids Treatment steps to see what happens to the “solid” sewage! Look at the picture showing green grass. Why is one part of the grass greener than the other part? _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ See a slide show of steps of sewage treatment http://www.metrocouncil.org/environment/Kids/01.htm Any singing volunteers? Here are the words to the “Flush It” song! http://www.ci.tacoma.wa.us/envirokids/Activities/songs.htm#Flush And the website you’ll never forget….(USE HEADPHONES) “Sewage in your Face” http://www.sandiego.gov/mwwd/kids/index.shtml Look at each section and tell what you learned and/or liked from each… Hear it! ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Eat it! _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Learn it! ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Videos _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Sewer Games ____________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________

I hope you enjoyed learning about how we get clean (potable) water and what happens to all that wastewater that leaves our homes. Remember, the water we use today is the same water used by people thousands of years ago and we must keep it clean for the people of the future!

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