Water Pollution… and how to clean it up!

Experiment with different types of water pollution

Make your own water filter

What are the 3 groups of pollution?

• Hydrocarbons– Gas, oil, etc.

• Dissolved substances– Chemicals, fertilizers, medicines

• Solids– Plastic water bottles, garbage, etc.

Making water pollution

• Materials:– 1 - 500ml pop bottle – put your group members’

names on the bottle– 1 funnel– 200 mL water– 1 – 250 mL beaker– Pollutants for your group

What to do:

• Rinse pop bottle twice with clean water• Pour 200 mL of water into the 250 mL beaker• Use the TDS meter to find the total dissolved

solids in the clean water sample• Use the pH meter to find the pH of the clean

water• Record all observations on the observations

sheet

Pollute the water!• One at a time add the pollutants that your group

brought• Record all observations – mixing, separation, floating

of the pollutants• Measure & record the TDS & pH after EACH addition• Put the lid on the pop bottle and tighten it• Gently shake the bottle to combine the pollutants• Observe & record how the pollutants mix with the

water• Record your observations as the water begins to

“relax”

Clean up the pollution!

• Observe the materials at the front of the room– 1 cup fine sand, 1 cup coarse sand, 1 cup fine rock, 1

cup coarse rock, 1 cup activated carbon, 1 cotton ball,1 small square of cheese cloth, 1 rubber band, 1 - 2 L pop bottle, 1 plastic cup, 1 funnel (all materials listed are / group)

• Use these materials to build a water filter to clean up the polluted water that you made

• Design a filtering system using ALL of the materials on the table

Before you build your filter…

• Create a sketch of your group’s water filter• Label all of the materials• Remember…. You must use all of the materials

on the table• Hand your sketch in… we’ll build them

tomorrow!

Creating Pollution observations:• TDS clean water= ____ pH clean water = ____• Pollutant added _________________• Observations: ____________________________• Pollutant added _________________• Observations: ____________________________• Pollutant added _________________• Observations: ____________________________• Observations after shaking: _______________

_____________________________________• Observations after relaxing for 5 minutes: ______

________________________________________• Sketch your proposed water filter on the back of this sheet