At-Home Water Projects

Clean Dirty Water

Objective:
To clean water by separating tiny water molecules from the dirt and other particles.

Materials Needed:
2 Medium-sized clear glass jars
Water
Small handful of dirt
Spoon
Scissors
Short shoelace that is not coated in plastic

Directions:
1. Fill one jar halfway with water from a pond, stream or other outdoor source.

2. Drop a small handful of dirt into the water and stir.

3. Cut off both plastic ends of the shoelace.

4. Place the water jar and empty jar next to each other. Place one end of the shoelace in the water, and the other end in the empty jar.

5. Let the jars stand overnight. Observe the cleaned water in one jar, and the dirt left in the other!

6. Do not drink the clean water! Although the dirt particles have been removed, the water may still contain germs. You can use the water in your jar for cleaning or watering plants!

Keep It Flowing!

Objective:
1. To help identify the source of your home water supply.
2. To learn some of the basic steps used in drinking water treatment.

Materials Needed:
4 Cups of tap water
Aluminum sulfate (alum), often found in drug stores
Piece of cheesecloth
Plastic basin
2 Plastic cups
Spoon
River water sample
Filtering agents: coal, sand, 2 kinds of gravel
1 Gallon empty plastic milk jug
Water Department information brochures

Directions:
1. Fill the plastic basin with 4 cups of tap water. This represents your water supply.

2. Fill one plastic cup with water from the basin. Fill the second plastic cup with river water. Compare the two samples and describe the differences.

3. Add 4-5 teaspoons of alum to the river water sample. Stir for about 20 minutes. (Note: alum, a mineral salt used as a coagulant, is commonly found in styptic pencils to stop bleeding and to clean cuts caused by shaving)

4. As you stir, monitor and record changes in the river water every 5 minutes. Refer to your Philadelphia Water Department brochures (also on www.phillywater.org/wgr2000/process.htm as part of the 2000 drinking Water Quality Report) to locate and define each of the steps in the drinking water treatment process.

5. The river water sample with alum should have coagulated after 20 minutes. Compare the two samples again, and describe the differences. Why do water treatment plants need to add alum to river water?

6. Is the water safe to drink? Is it safe to use? Why? Set both cups of water aside for later.

7. Cut the plastic gallon milk jug in half around the middle. Turn the top half upside down to use as your water filter.

8. Line the top of the jug with the cheesecloth. Measure and add small amounts of gravel, an amount of sand, and an amount of coal.

9. Hold the filter over the bottom half of the jug. This will be your carbon basin.

10. "Prime" the filter by flushing with tap water until the water runs clear, not gray.

11. Observe the water in the two cups again. Pour the river water treated with alum into the primed filter, being careful not to pour out what has settled to the bottom. Collect the filtered water in your catch basin.

12. Compare the filtered water with the tap water. Is the filtered water safe to drink? Why or why not? Consult the Water Department brochures again. What else should be done to make the water safe?

The Hydrologic Cycle

Objective:
To observe the hydrologic cycle in action in a soda bottle "atmosphere."

Materials Needed:
Sand
Water
Screen
Sturdy scissors
Crushed ice
1 Liter plastic bottle with cap
Paper
1 Water-based marker
Measuring cup
Tape

Directions:
1. Cut off the bottom of the plastic bottle. Set the bottom aside.

2. Turn the bottle upside down, balancing it on its cap.

3. Cut the screen to a 3-4-inch-square piece. (PARENTS, be sure to help with this part.) Drop the piece of screen into the soda bottle so it rests lightly near the mouth (now the bottom) of the bottle.

4. Fill the bottle with sand to the 100-milliliter mark. This represents the ground in your atmosphere.

5. Holding the bottle with your hand or a ring stand, slowly pour in 200 milliliters of water. Allow the water to settle. This represents the earth's water supply.

6. Retrieve the cut-out bottom of the bottle. Place it into the open "sky" top of your bottle, with the bottom of the inserted piece facing downward.

7. Place crushed ice into the bottle bottom, which is at the top of your soda bottle atmosphere. This represents cool air in the earth's atmosphere.

8. Set the bottle in a ring stand in the sunlight or near a strong, warm lamp. Observe over several minutes.

9. Based on your observations, identify the layers you see and their steps in the hydrologic cycle:
Groundwater
Surface water
Evaporation
Condensation
Precipitation

10. On a piece of paper, draw a water cycle.

What's Your Watershed Address?

Objective:
To identify your own watershed and its relationship with adjoining watersheds.

Materials needed:
Detailed area map
Larger range map, if needed
Colored markers, including dark and light blue

Directions:
1. Find your home on the map. Using a marker other than your blue ones, place a dot over the spot where your house is.

2. Find the stream or creek where the rainwater from your home drains. Keep in mind that water runs downhill. Using the dark blue marker, place a dot over the spot where your home's rainwater drains.

3. Again using the dark blue marker, trace the path that your stream runs as far as you can. When you reach a major river, keep going! Trace your home water's path all the way to the ocean.

4. Now look at the major river that your water took to run into the ocean. Where is your river's source? Using your light blue marker, place a dot over the spot where your river begins.

5. Again using the light blue marker, trace your major river's path all the way to the ocean. What other small rivers and streams run into your river? Each time another smaller river or stream joins your river, stop and trace that entire waterway as well. If even smaller streams join into those streams, trace them too!

6. Observe the many lines you have just drawn, with all of the waterways running into the river where your home's water runs. What is the name of your major river that runs into the ocean? This is the name of your watershed!

7. Using a fourth colored marker, place dots over the following locations on the map:
School
Church
Offices of your parent(s)
Favorite park
Friends' or relatives' homes

8. Do they live in the same watershed? If not, how do you think the watersheds affect each other?

9. Look at the major places on the map where the streams and rivers pass. What might your water pick up on its way to the ocean?

Wetlands Clean-Up … With a Sponge

Objective:
To observe the positive effect of wetlands in cleaning and filtering water that has picked up other particles.

Materials Needed:
2 Cookie sheets
2 Buckets
3 Sponges
4 Glass jars
Tap water
Measuring spoons
Measuring cup
Soil

Directions:
1. Place each cookie sheet over a bucket, tilted so that they slope toward the buckets. Prop the cookie sheets in place. This represents the ground allowing water to run down and into a river.

2. Wet the sponges and ring them out so they are damp but do not drip. Place them end-to-end across one of the cookie sheets, so they divide the cookie sheet in half. This represents the wetland that water will pass through on the way to a river.

3. Pour 1 cup of water into each of the glass jars. Add 1 tablespoon of soil to each jar; stir.

4. Slowly pour one of the jars of dirty water onto the top of the cookie sheet without sponges. Observe the speed and direction the water uses to reach the bucket.

5. Pour the other jar of dirty water onto the top of the cookie sheet with sponges. You may need to gently hold the sponges in place. Observe the speed and direction the water uses to reach the bucket.

6. When the water has drained off the cookie sheets, pour the water from each bucket into a separate jar. Compare and contrast the quantity and quality of water in the jars.

Wetlands Clean-Up … With Dirt

Objective:
To observe the positive effect of wetlands in cleaning and filtering water that has picked up other particles.

Materials Needed:
Measuring cup
Tap water
Soil
Food coloring
1 Paper cup
Pencil or pen
1 Glass jar without a lid (jar #1)
2 Glass jars with lids (jar #2 and jar #3)

Directions:
1. Using a pencil or pen, punch five or six small holes in the bottom of the paper cup for drainage.

2. Fill the paper cup with dirt, and suspend it above the glass jar without a lid (jar #1). This represents the wetland that water will pass through on the way to a river.

3. Add to each of the two jars with lids (jar #2 and jar #3): 1 cup of water, 6 drops of food coloring and 1 tablespoon of soil. Shake each jar so the contents mix together.

4. Set aside jar #3 and put the lid on it. This jar will act as a control.

5. Take the lid off jar #2 and slowly pour the contents into the paper cup. All of the water must drain through to the empty jar #1.

6. When the water is finished draining through, pour that water through the soil again. This time use jar #2 which was just emptied, for the drainage water.

7. Repeat at least six times, pouring the water through the cup of soil into which ever is the empty jar.

8. When the water has drained into a jar six or more times, compare and contrast the color, quantity and quality of water in the jar with the color, quantity and quality of water in the control jar.