Where Drinking Water Comes From

Lab Brief #6

🎯 Your mission

Predict it first. Then prove yourself right (or wrong).

⚡ The twist

Nature loves to surprise the careful watcher.

What you'll learn

Water is collected from rivers, reservoirs or underground, then screened, settled, filtered and disinfected before it reaches a tap. Each stage removes something different, and skipping any one of them makes the water unsafe.

Key words

reservoir
A large artificial lake that stores water for supply.
disinfection
Killing harmful microbes in water, usually with chlorine or ultraviolet light.

Make a hypothesis first

Before you start: write down what you think will happen, and why.

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Get ready

🧰 What you need

plastic bottle
gravel
sand
cotton wool
muddy water
beakers

Get ready

⚠️ Safety first

Never drink water you have filtered, however clear it looks.
Wash hands thoroughly after handling soil or muddy water.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Think about what you just learned: say what "reservoir" and "disinfection" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Build a four-stage filter from a bottle with gravel, sand and cotton wool and pass muddy water through it. Record clarity at each stage and explain which stage the real process still adds that yours cannot.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Question 1 of 2

Which stage does a home-made sand filter NOT provide?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

A reservoir is used to:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🔬 The more you look, the more nature shows you.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 2 right.

Next: Protecting a Local Habitat All lessons

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

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✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: This shows up in your everyday life more than you'd think.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Try one experiment in real life this week — even a tiny one.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “What's the most surprising thing you learned today?”

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