The History of Water Quality Ancient civilizations established themselves around water sources

Water treatment originally focused on how it looked, tasted and smelled. The earliest records of attempts to improve water quality were in 4000 B.C. The earliest technology included boiling the water, sun exposure, and filtration. * water-trt-hist-epa.pdf

Vocabulary Clarification FILTRATION – Anything dissolved in the water might not get filtered out – Sometimes that is a good thing, like coffee and tea

– Most of the time it is not a good thing, like chemicals (good or bad)

How Do We Clean the Water? To filter out ANYTHING, you must use something with holes smaller than the item to be filtered out.

For instance, you can use a kitchen strainer to separate out the potatoes from the water

But you could not use the kitchen strainer to filter out coffee grounds. For this you need a coffee filter.

To filter out large rocks….you can use small rocks (gravel). To filter out small rocks….you can use smaller rocks (sand). To filter out sand …..use a mesh (sponge). To filter out teeny tiny particles, use a filter.

To filter out chemicals and bad odors, use something that will “stick” to the chemical…..like charcoal.

To filter out bacteria, add a small amount of a chemical that will kill bacteria, like hydrogen peroxide or bleach. THEY ARE DIFFICULT TO FILTER OUT BECAUSE THEY ARE SOOOOO TINY.

PROBLEM: Many people have been left without safe drinking water after Typhoon Haiyam.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION: Teach them how to build their own water filtration device, but will the homemade prototype be as good as water that comes from the treatment plant ?

MATERIALS: One empty 2 Liter plastic soda bottle Small gravel Fine sand Charcoal Coffee filter Clean kitchen sponge

PROCEDURE 1. Cut the soda bottle in half. 2. Balance the spout half inside the bottom half 3. coffee filter inside the bottom of the bottle 4. place the kitchen sponge on top

5. Layer sand two inches on top of the filter. 6. Layer the gravel on top of the sand to about 2 or 3 inches in depth.

TEST 1.Control: what would this be? 2.Pour vinegar water through, test for pH, smell, and clarity (looks). 3.Pour red water through, test for pH, smell and clarity. 4.Pour dirty water through, test for pH, smell, and clarity.

DATA Good water has a neutral pH of 7. Test the water before and after filtration. Good water is clear. Describe the water before and after. Good water does not smell. Describe the smell before and after.

RESULTS and ANALYSIS How well did the homemade filtration system work for each trial? Make sure to state in detail the difference before and after, for each trial, for each limit. Would you recommend this to an islander as an emergency water filtration device?

CONCLUSION 1. Was your hypothesis correct or incorrect, and how so? 2.What sources of error might be in this lab? 3. Besides victims of natural disasters, who might also want to make one of these at home? Or, for what other uses could they be used? What other tests could have been performed?