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The Kid Should See This

A Drink from the Tap: How is water cleaned for drinking?

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This is the story of the water we drink: how it is collected, filtered, and pumped into our homes. But what happens to it after it has been through our bodies and flushed down the lavatory? Find out how it is cleaned up with the help of bacteria so we can drink it all over again.

This informative video about an essential modern utility, clean running water from the tap, starts with the water cycle and continues through our water treatment processes: Lots of filtering and flocculation, “the process by which fine particulates are caused to clump together” before they’re removed.

drinking tap
And once water has moved through the house (and our bodies), the short explains how the sewers funnel the waste to a sewage-treatment plant where filtering, separation, and helpful friendly bacteria make it clean again.

Watch A Drink from the Tap from The Magic of Making, an educational film series for kids, created in partnership with BBC Worldwide.

cleaning up water
drinking tap water
Related links include National Geographic’s How Do We Clean Water? Earth Science lessons for grades 3-8 and NPR’s How Do We Get Our Drinking Water In The U.S.?

PODCAST ALERT from WBEZ Chicago’s Curious City: Where Does Your Poop Go? Pair it with this kid-friendly interactive tour.

Then watch these videos on TKSST:
Why is water one of the weirdest things in the universe?
Explore wastewater treatment with LeVar Burton
The powder that can turn sludge into clean drinking water
• How are scientists harvesting water from thin air?

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