dirty water to clean water experiment

Clean Water Experiment for Kids

We have a camping trip planned in a few weeks. The other day we purchased some water filtration straws and things to clean the water where we are heading so that it is safe to drink. This resulted in a great discussion with my kids about clean water. This clean water experiment is a hands-on way to show children a little bit about how water can be filtered.

This water filtration experiment is also great opportunity to discuss how although we are lucky to live in a place where we have access to clean water; there are millions of people around the world that do not. Although this idea can be challenging for young kids, I truly believe that it is an important conversation to have.

After discussing how important it is to protect our water and work to keep it clean, I decided to extend the idea with this STEM clean water experiment. My kids loved trying different things to get their water as clear and clean as possible. It is also a great reminder of how fortunate we are that we can simply turn on a tap and have water that is safe to drink.

This experiment is a great activity to do after a hike or walk with your kids. You can collect a bit of water from a small pond or simply add some dirt and other materials to water from home. As long as it looks dirty then you can experiment and filter it to make it clean!

This and other clean water projects for students and kids are a great experiment to try around Earth Day or when learning about the environment.

When I did this experiment with my kids at home, and in a kindergarten classroom, I simply set out all of the materials and allowed children to experiment and use what they thought might work. They used trial and error to find the best materials to clean their water.

Water Filtration Experiment Materials

You don’t need a lot of materials for this experiment. Try to use things that you already have on hand. I used:

• Dirty Water (You can add dirt, stones, sand, oil, etc.)
• Coffee Filters
• Small, Medium and Large Gravel Stones
• Plastic Baggies
• Paper Towel
• Free Printable Activity Card

If you have other materials on hand that you think children may use to filter their water, then you can offer the materials to them.

You can also choose to give children the activity card to explain the STEM challenge. The activity card reads:

Clean Water Experiment Steps

I started by showing children a jug filled with dirty water. (I added dirt, oil and a bit of other debris from outside.) Then I challenged the kids to find a way to clean the water. Remind children that as clear and clean as the water may look at the end of this experiment, they cannot drink it!

I set all of the supplies out for them to choose what they wanted to build their filter with.

Children tried many different things and did a lot of trial and error. A few children used only the baggies and cut a small hole in the end to filter the water. They found that this only got some of the really large pieces out of the water.

These children tried again by adding stones and sand to their baggie. This extra layer of filtration helped and the water did run clearer.

Many children found success using the coffee filter. Securing it with an elastic on the cup, or simply holding it, and slowly pouring the water onto the filter resulted in fairly clear water.

Make sure to give children enough time to do this experiment. As my kids tested their filter, they altered it each time and tried different things. Many changed their filter by adding to it or taking parts away.

Clean Water Experiment Results

Many children found that by adding many different layers they were able to get their water the clearest.

A few children used most of the materials that I had made available. We put a hole in the bottom of their cup and used the cup as their filter. They started by putting a coffee filter in the bottom. In the coffee filter they added small gravel and then larger gravel stones on top.

Next, they placed several pieces of paper towel and then attached a nylon on the top. When the water was poured into this filter it ran through each of the layers and the water came out fairly clear.

Many children found that by changing their paper filters (paper towel and coffee filters) they were able to run their water through a second time and get it even cleaner.

One problem we ran into was that there was a bit of a dye on some of the gravel stones. Our water had a pink tint to it. To prevent this, we then rinsed all of the materials to get the color off before using them again.

I was really happy to see the children getting excited each time they ran the dirty water through their filter. They were very happy to see the water run through clearer each time.

Some children found that just the paper towel and coffee filter worked best. So they tried using several layers of just the towel and filter. Each time they ran their dirty water through their filter, they changed the coffee filter and paper towel. This resulted in the best filter.

Many children loved being able to look at the paper filters and see the dirt and debris that were caught by the filter.

This is a great hands-on experiment for children see how difficult it is to get water clean and clear.

Water Filtration Experiment Extension Ideas

An important part of this water filter experiment is also making sure that children realize that even though their water looks clean and clear, it is not safe to drink. Depending where you got your water, there are lots of tiny bits of bacteria and maybe even bugs, that we cannot see. When water is properly cleaned all of those extra things in the water, that can make us sick, are removed.

If you have a microscope, you could look at the dirty and clean water on a slide to compare. This would also be a great opportunity to show children the microscopic things in the water. Or you could compare the water you filtered with drinking water

It is interesting to note that we left some of the water over night and we noticed something in the morning. Even though the water looked clean, overnight some dirt and debris had settled to the bottom of the cup. Much of this debris found at the bottom of the cups was water that had been filtered several times.

Everyone worked really hard to clean their water. In the end, they realized how lucky they are to not have to worry about having clean water. My hope is that this experiment also creates some awareness that for many people, not having clean water, is a daily concern. It also reminds children to take care of our environment and take steps to keep our air and water clean.

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Make a water filter

This fun science experiment turns dirty water clean. (Kind of.)

How do you clean up dirty water?

Not with soap! You need a filter, a device that removes impurities, like dirt, from water. The filter you’ll make here—with the help of an adult—is a super strainer, and it’ll help you clean up your act.

Ask a grown-up to cut the bottle in half. Then flip the bottle's top half over and put it in the bottom, so the top looks like a funnel. You'll build your filter in the top part.

Place the coffee filter (or bandanna, sock, etc.) at the bottom of your filter.

Add cotton balls, charcoal, gravel, sand, and / or other materials in layers. You can use just one of them or all of them. Tip: Think about which order to add them. Bigger filter materials usually catch bigger impurities.

Write down which filter materials you used and in what order you layered them.

Stir your dirty water and measure out a cup of it.

Get your timer ready!

Pour a cup of dirty water into your filter. Start the timer as soon as you begin pouring.

Time how long it takes for all the water to go through the filter. Then write down how long it took.

Carefully scoop out the filter materials, one layer at a time. What did each layer take out of the water?

Experiment! Clean the bottle and try again. Put the filter materials in a different order each time, and time each experiment. What do you discover?

WHAT'S GOING ON?

The slower, the better! The longer it takes for water to move through a filter, the cleaner it gets. Water slips easily through the filter materials, but bigger gunk, like dirt, gets trapped. The filter materials usually get finer and finer, so they can catch whatever was missed earlier. Activated charcoal can be near the end of the water’s path, because it uses an electrical charge to grab particles too small for us to see.

Your filtered water is not clean enough to drink. But a plant will love it!

Photographs by Mark Thiessen / NG Staff: Adapted from the Nat Geo Kids book How Things Work , by T.J. Resler

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How can we clean our dirty water?

This resource provides a set of videos and a practical investigation aimed at supporting working scientifically in the classroom and relating science to real world experiences. In the first video Professor Brian Cox joins a teacher to find out how to set up and run an investigation to find out how to turn dirty water into clean water. Provided with a water mixture including stones, sand and salt children are asked to separate it to get pure water using sieves, filters and evaporation. In the next video he then joins the class carrying out their investigation. Further videos show Brian Cox visiting a sewage treatment plant to see how sewage is cleaned by various processes so it can be returned to rivers. He also meets a scientist using chromatography as a separation technique. An accompanying written resource guides teachers on how to run the investigation in class.

This resource has been provided by the Royal Society.

Filtration set up video

Filtration experiment video

Real world sewage filtration video

Science filtration chromatography video

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Please be aware that resources have been published on the website in the form that they were originally supplied. This means that procedures reflect general practice and standards applicable at the time resources were produced and cannot be assumed to be acceptable today. Website users are fully responsible for ensuring that any activity, including practical work, which they carry out is in accordance with current regulations related to health and safety and that an appropriate risk assessment has been carried out.

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Homemade Water Filter Experiment

July 6, 2019 By Emma Vanstone 11 Comments

Today we are looking at filtering and how it can be used to clean dirty water. This water filter science project is very simplified but gives kids a great overview of how water purification is carried out to give us lovely clean drinking water.

Do not drink the water in the activity

Water Filter Science Project

Filtering water – what you need.

Dirty water ( or mud and clean water )

Coffee filter/paper towel/muslin

An empty bottle or other containers

Filtering Water Experiment

The great thing about this experiment is that you can design it however you like.

We set up coffee filters containing sand, stones and then just plain filters.

We carefully poured the same amount of water through each filter and observed the results.

More ideas to try – Water Filter Science Project

Set up an experiment where the conditions are:

1 coffee filter

2 coffee filters

3 coffee filters

Is kitchen roll better than a coffee filter, would just a sieve work?

You could also work in stages, so try a colander, then a sieve and then a paper towel. Each stage should trap smaller and smaller particles.

How do filters work?

A filter is a porous material which a liquid can be passed though to separate the liquid from solids suspended in it.

More Filtering Investigations

Make a toy filter .

Try filtering potions using a sieve and colander.

Can you filter water using sand and stones ?

More Science for Kids

I’ve got a fun collection of water science experiments , including a water cycle activity, dissolving experiment, ice investigation and density trick!

Try one of our easy science experiments for kids to do at home ! We’ve got egg experiments, ice experiments, paper helicopters, STEM challenges and lots more science fun for kids of all ages!

Suitable for Key stage 2 Science

Properties and Changes of Materials

Use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating.

Last Updated on August 6, 2024 by Emma Vanstone

Safety Notice

Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.

These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.

Reader Interactions

May 15, 2012 at 11:49 pm

This is such a neat experiment. I bet it would be fun to let the kids think of better ways to filter the water. It will definitely give them a better appreciation for our clean water!

May 18, 2012 at 8:22 pm

So simple, and yet so fun! A very good way to learn about filters and clean water. We will definitely have to try this one, thanks 🙂

May 22, 2012 at 8:21 pm

We did that once too and it’s amazing how much gets filtered out and how gross that water still is. I think yours was more easily visble, we have very clay like dirt, so it didn’t quite dissolve right. Thanks for linking up to Science Sunday!

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How to Purify Muddy Water

Introduction: How to Purify Muddy Water

Step 1: Chemicals Required

Step 2: Water Sample

Step 3: Treatment of Muddy Water With Alum

• Here, I have collected the muddy water in a bucket, poured more water to overflow and brushed away most of the floating material with hand.
• Using a fine cloth, filtered the muddy water into another vessel. The filtered water contains no floating material and less silt.
• Took about five liters of water in a plastic bucket and added half a teaspoon of powdered Alum (that is about 50 mg which works out to 10 mg per liter of water) and stirred well.
• This bucket of water needs to be kept still for about 6 to 7 hours so that the sediments get coagulated and settles down at the bottom.

Step 4: Draining Clean Water

Step 5: Disinfection

Step 6: Experiment in Plastic Bottles

Step 7: Foot Note

• The prescribed dosage of Alum varies from 5 mg per liter for a relatively clear water to 85 mg for a highly turbid waters like industrial waste. However, the normal dosage for drinking water is about 17 mg per liter.
• The dosage of bleaching solution as 2 drops per liter is suggested considering 60 to 70 percent of chlorine available in the bleaching powder. you can increase or decrease the amount by smelling the chlorinated water. More chlorine smell, add some clean water. Add a few more drops in case of no smell.
• Keeping buckets of water mixed with Alum overnight will give you enough clean water in the morning for use.
• Over-dosage of Alum may cause temporary dizziness, diarrhea and vomiting (but not dangerous). So, take care while adding alum.
• Bleaching solution is corrosive. Take care not to get your skin or cloth in contact with the solution.

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1. Create a dirty water sample

2. build your filter cartridge, 3. design your filter, 4. test and evaluate the results, 5. revise and try, try again.

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Make a Water Filter

Design and build a device that can clean a dirty water sample using materials around your home. You’ll follow the same design process used by NASA engineers and scientists when they developed the water filtration system for the International Space Station orbiting Earth. To do so, you’ll use an iterative process, meaning you’ll test multiple designs, look at how your materials get you closer to your goal, and record your findings to build the best filter possible.

Important safety note!  This activity is not designed to make drinkable water. No matter how “clean” your filtered water looks, you should never drink it because it still may contain pollutants you can’t see.

Hands-on Activity Clean Enough to Drink: Making Devices to Filter Dirty Water

Grade Level: 3 (3-5)

(Spread over eight 45-minute class periods)

Expendable Cost/Group: US $5.00

Group Size: 4

Activity Dependency: None

Subject Areas: Problem Solving, Science and Technology

NGSS Performance Expectations:

TE Newsletter

Engineering connection, learning objectives, materials list, worksheets and attachments, more curriculum like this, introduction/motivation, vocabulary/definitions, investigating questions, activity extensions, activity scaling, additional multimedia support, user comments & tips.

Environmental, chemical and civil engineers must fully understand the science and math pertaining to water quality, contaminants and filtration materials in order to design filtration systems capable of providing potable water to the masses. Like engineers, students work in teams to brainstorm, research and problem solve as they design, test and revise filtration systems to clean visible particulates from contaminated water.

After this activity, students should be able to:

• Use teamwork to solve a problem.
• Research, design and build a prototype water filtration device.
• Describe the need to conserve and protect water sources.
• Explain a problem and a solution to others.

Educational Standards Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards. All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN) , a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org). In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g. , by state; within source by type; e.g. , science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc .

Ngss: next generation science standards - science.

International Technology and Engineering Educators Association - Technology

View aligned curriculum

Do you agree with this alignment? Thanks for your feedback!

State Standards

Texas - science.

Each group needs:

• computer with Internet access
• 2-liter clear plastic beverage bottle, cut in half by instructor
• 300 ml of "dirty water," made by the instructor by adding to water small bits of plant material, soil and paper; see the Procedure section for instructions
• measuring cup or graduated beaker, to measure dry materials (amounts to be determined by group)
• Water Filtration Planning Worksheet 1
• Water Filtration Planning Worksheet 2 (may not be needed)
• Suggested Poster Design Layout
• Water Filtration Project Rubric
• lab book/journal/notebook (or paper), one per student, to keep track of research, design ideas, sketches, materials lists, notes, etc., throughout the activity
• pencil or pen, one per student
• poster board
• colored pencils

To share with the entire class:

• a copy of the book, The Magic School Bus at the Water Works by Joanna Cole
• half-gallon jug filled with water, to show the class during the introduction
• clear pitcher, in which to show the class the "dirty water" during the introduction
• assorted filtration materials, such as top soil, sand (fine and coarse), gravel, coffee filters, cheese cloth, rubber bands, cotton balls, napkins, paper towels; because groups select which filtration materials and amounts to use in their designs, the quantities needed will vary; suggested quantities to have on hand for the class to share: ~3 liters of top soil, 2 liters of sand (fine and coarse), 2 liters of gravel, 20 coffee filters, 20 4 x 4-inch (~10 x 10-cm) squares of cheese cloth, 20 rubber bands, 50 cotton balls, 20 napkins or paper towels
• scissors, to cut the plastic bottles
• paper towels, for clean-up
• sink with water and drain

Water is essential to life. The human body can only survive about three days without water. How can we keep people hydrated? (Listen to a few student ideas.) About 71% of the Earth is covered with water, but just 1% of all water is fresh, drinkable water. Let's put those numbers into something we can visualize—a pizza! Imagine that you have a whole pizza cut into four equal parts; about three of those four pieces represent the amount of the Earth that is covered in water, while just one small bite of pizza represents the amount of that water that is drinkable (not salty!).

Every day, chemicals, pharmaceuticals (human-made chemicals used for medical purposes), fossil fuels (gasoline, coal), bacteria, plastics, and other contaminants enter our drinking water sources. Water quality is important to animals, agriculture and aquatic life. We have about seven billion people inhabiting the Earth, and each person needs to consume about a half a gallon of water per day. (Show the class a half-gallon jug of water.)

People in space need clean water, too! At one point in 2016, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), six men were traveling 249 miles above the Earth's surface in the International Space Station (ISS). This distance is about as far as from Houston to Dallas. (Give students a tangible reference for this distance based on cities close to you.) Have you ever heard of the ISS? The ISS a space station in orbit around our planet that is operated by a few countries working together to continually run experiments related to life in space, such as airway monitoring, and measuring humidity, temperature and pressure within the ISS. In space, humans need 0.43 gallons of water per person per day. (Show the class a half gallon jug of water, not quite full.) That's a little less than a half-gallon of water per person. Just as people on Earth have a limited drinking water supply, the ISS has limited storage capacity for drinking water!

Whether on Earth or in space, life-threatening illnesses may occur if the water we drink is of poor quality. It must be clean water! Because it is expensive and so much trouble to send up clean water, and the space station has so little storage space, the ISS provides potable water—that's water that is safe to drink—by recycling humidity (that's water in the air) and waste water (that's water from cleaning and body waste). Even though clean drinking water is stored in tanks and brought up during resupply missions, the water must be recycled during the time between those shipments. The water is decontaminated by physical and chemical means as well as filtered and treated with high temperature to make sure it is safe to drink.

Have you ever recycled or cleaned dirty water? (Show the class a pitcher of pre-made "dirty water." Listen to a few student experiences. Expect some children to have stories from camping or traveling outside the U.S.)

Water filtration is the process of removing unwanted contaminants from water to make it cleaner. One technique is physical filtration, in which large particulates are strained from the water. Water is naturally filtered during the hydrologic (water) cycle when precipitation (rain, snow) infiltrates the soil. The layers of vegetation, soil, sand and gravel clean physical particulates from the water as it trickles deep enough to replenish groundwater (which is what we call underground water that supplies wells and springs).

Today, you will act as engineers who are given the challenge to filter visible particulates from dirty water. As engineers, if NASA needed your help to research and create a water filtration device for the ISS, what information would you need to know? (Expected possible answers: How is water filtered naturally? What contaminants can be removed physically? What materials are available for use?) How could you filter visible contaminants? (Possible answer: Pour water through layers of materials, such as fabric and some kind of strainer.)

On Day 2, read aloud to the class The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks . This picture book depicts a class field trip to the "waterworks," which the kids are sure will be boring, but turns out to be fantastical, fun and informative. After driving through a tunnel, the bus enters the water cycle with students experiencing being rain in a cloud, collected in a river, going through a town's water purification system, into a pipe back to the school, and out a faucet in the girl's bathroom. Includes 10 "water facts" presented by different students.

Before the Activity

• Invite a civil and/or environmental engineer from the local water authority or university to describe and discuss with students the water treatment process and your community's water treatment system. Additional topics might include water uses, the need for good water quality, water treatment methods, water filtration plants and water conservation. Make sure the engineer is comfortable speaking to students using age-appropriate language and explanations. Schedule this visit for Day 2 of the activity.
• Ask parents to donate empty and clean two-liter clear plastic beverage bottles. Cut the bottles in half horizontally and discard the caps.
• Gather materials and make copies of the Water Filtration Planning Worksheet 1 , Water Filtration Planning Worksheet 2 , Suggested Poster Design Layout and Water Filtration Rubric .
• Make a supply of "dirty water." Instructions: Pull a half-liter of plant material from the school grounds and some paper from the recycling bin. Into 2 liters of tap water, mix top soil, two large leaves torn to bits and small pieces of paper. Adjust the quantities to make sure you have enough for 300 ml of dirty water per group. Before divvying up the dirty water supply for the groups, pour it into a clear container so that you can show the "contaminated water" to the class during the introduction.
• For Day 8 (the last day), arrange for a mini-engineering fair or design expo so student groups can show their filter designs and explanatory posters to an invited audience of guests and stakeholders beyond the class, such as families, administrators, school board members, other classes and community leaders.

With the Students—Day 1: Introduction, Design Challenge & Brainstorming

• As a class, review the vocabulary words.
• Present the Introduction/Motivation content to the class. Lead a class discussion about water uses, desired qualities and unwanted contaminants, including the need for potable water on Earth as well as in the International Space Station.
• Show the class the pre-made supply of "dirty water." Remind students of the engineering challenge : To filter the dirty water so that it is visibly cleaner. Ask: Can we clean this water so that it is suitable for plant, animal or human consumption? Then explain that although they will get to practice environmental engineering in this challenge and see their water getting visibly cleaner, professional engineers must ensure that water meets specific and strict regulations before it is declared safe for consumption; and sometimes water that looks clean is still quite contaminated!
• As necessary, and as time permits, review with the class the seven basic steps of the engineering design process .
• As a class, brainstorm ways to clean water, such as filtering through layers of soil and stone; filtering through cloth, cotton balls and/or coffee filters; using a strainer or sieve. Write suggestions on the classroom board and have students take notes for future reference.

With the Students—Day 2: Understanding the Problem, Brainstorming & Designing

• Read aloud to the class The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks . Possible follow-up discussion questions: What is alum? (Answer: Alum is a chemical compound used to coagulate, or clump together solid particles, making them easier to filter out by sinking to the bottom or floating to the top of a settling tank before water moves on to the next step in the filtration process.) How is water filtered? (Answer: Water passes through sand and gravel to remove tiny particles.)
• Have the visiting water engineer make a presentation to the class, including some question/answer time. Remind students to listen attentively and ask relevant questions. Suggest that students take notes for future reference.
• Divide the class into groups of four students each. Assign each student within each group a specific job, such as material manager/engineer , researcher , graphic designer , and recorder/scribe . Explain that material managers/engineers obtain and handle the necessary building materials and determine the best device design with the input of other team members; researchers are responsible for the research; graphic designers design the promotional posters; and recorders/scribes write the text for the planning worksheets and posters. Although each student is responsible for his or her job, all students within the group must participate in and contribute to all components of the activity.
• Direct the groups to begin brainstorming . Require them to prepare lists of the materials (such as soil, gravel, sand, cheese cloth, coffee filters, cotton balls, etc.) they want to use in their filtration devices and specific quantities for each material.

With the Students—Days 3-4: Researching & Designing

• Explain to the class that they have learned about large-scale community water filtration systems, and now they will research small-scale or individual filtration systems, including how to create them and what materials they require. Tell students that based on their research findings, each group will be responsible for planning, building and testing its own filtration system.
• Show students the provided materials that will be available for them to create their water filters, including the halved plastic bottles as well as the various filtration materials. Not all materials need to be used in their designs. Knowing the available materials prepares students to use their research to inform how to use the materials and which materials they want to use.
• As student groups get started to conduct Internet research, give them the following advice:
• Use Internet search engines, such as Google, to research keywords, such as "water filtration systems for kids," looking for how to create water filters and what materials to use.
• Reliable research sites often end in org, edu, and gov.
• Take notes for future reference.
• Based on new research information gathered, have groups revise their best brainstormed ideas and supply lists, filling in planning worksheet 1. Remind students to also note in their lab books their design ideas, sketches, and materials lists.

With the Students—Days 5-7: Building & Testing

• Have groups design and build their filtration systems using the provided materials.
• Give students the freedom to design systems of their own imaginings and refrain from giving explicit instruction. In other words, act as a facilitator, encouraging innovation. With the given materials, expect most designs to place the top of the plastic bottle upside-down as a funnel inside the bottom half of the bottle with cheese cloth or coffee filters in the funnel near the neck of the bottle, and then layers of soil, sand and gravel resting on the cloth or coffee filters to serve as a natural filtration system.
• Let students know that their prototype filter designs will be tested by pouring the dirty water through them to see if the water quality visually changes.
• Permit students to choose the types and amounts of the provided materials, measuring and recording material amounts. They may choose to place the inverted bottle top in the bottle bottom half to form a funnel. They may choose to layer varying amounts of gravel and/or sand on top of coffee filters, cheese cloth and/or cotton balls to form a filter.
• Advise the groups to measure the materials in metric units.
• Remind them to take notes and record materials measurements throughout the process.
• Walk around to each group, asking them the suggested probing questions listed in the Assessment section.

• If the water is not clear of particulates, have groups redesign, rebuild and retest their filters, aiming for improvement. If a second design is needed, have groups fill in planning worksheet  Again, have students measure the material amounts, adding or subtracting materials as revisions are made. Remind them to include their revisions and new plans and sketches in their lab books.
• As a class, have students share their results and discuss what they learned. Discuss overall water quality, such as such as whether the water is clean enough for plant, animal or human consumption. Remind students that although their water became visibly cleaner, professional engineers make sure that water meets specific and strict regulations before it is considered safe for consumption, and that sometimes water that looks clean still contains contaminants that are too small to see!
• Direct the groups to make posters that explain the steps they took to design and test their water filtration systems, referring to the Suggested Poster Design Layout . Set up a hypothetical scenario in which posters are presented to NASA as proposed filtration systems for the ISS. Require the posters to include at a minimum all elements described on the poster design handout: background, objective, method, results, conclusion, and future work and improvements.

With the Students—Day 8: Presenting the Results/End Product

• Direct students to answer some concluding questions, as provided in the Assessment section, writing their answers in their lab books.
• Have students hand in their lab books, planning worksheets and posters for review, and use the rubric to determine student grades.

contaminant: Something that makes a place or a substance, such as water, air or food, unfit for use; something harmful or unwanted that makes a place or substance dangerous, dirty or impure.

engineering design process: A series of steps used by engineering teams to guide them as they develop solutions, products and systems. The basic steps are: define the problem, generate ideas (brainstorming), select a solution, test the solution(s), make the item, evaluate it, and present the results.

filter: A device that removes something unwanted from a liquid or gas that is passed through it.

International Space Station: (ISS) A habitable artificial satellite in low-Earth orbit that is operated as a multinational collaborative research lab.

NASA: Acronym for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. A U.S. federal agency responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.

particulate: (as relates to water quality) A very small piece or fragment of assorted solid materials that are present in a water supply.

physical filtration : The process of removing solid particulates from fluids.

potable: Water that is safe to drink. Also known as drinking water.

prototype: A first attempt or early model of a new product or creation. May be revised many times.

Pre-Activity Assessment

Brainstorming: During Day 1, as a class, have students discuss possible ways to clean contaminated water, such as using strainers, sieves, mesh, cloth, coffee filters and/or layers of soil, sand and gravel. Remind students that during a brainstorming session, all ideas are welcomed and encouraged and should be accepted respectfully. Have students raise their hands to respond and encourage them to "think outside the box." Write all ideas on a class chart and have students take notes in their lab books.

Activity Embedded Assessment

Lab Books: Assess students individually on the contents of their lab books. Expect each to contain vocabulary words, research notes, design ideas, materials lists, prototype sketches, filter descriptions, and the functionality and results of each prototype test.

Verbal Assessment: As groups are building on Days 5 and 6, and prior to testing, ask students to describe to you their team's best design. Example probing questions to ask:

• Why is water filtration so important? (Answer: Water filtration is important to provide healthy potable water for plants, animals and human consumption.)
• Which materials do you expect to remove which visible contaminants? Why? (Example answer: Gravel is good at filtering out larger materials, but smaller particulates can sneak through, so we're using cloth, coffee filters and soil to remove the smaller visible particulates because they have tighter spaces that water can still get through, while the little solid bits cannot.)
• Why did you choose your design? (Expect answers to indicate that design ideas came from research information, guest speaker information and/or the available materials.)

Post-Activity Assessment

Concluding Questions & Summary Grading: After testing their designs, have students reconsider and answer in their journals the verbal assessment questions (above), as well as the following concluding questions.

• Did your team's design work as well as expected? Explain. (Answers will vary.)
• Is the water clean enough for plant, animal or human consumption? (Answer: Water with a lot of particulates may be suitable for plants, a few particulates may be suitable for animals, and no particulates may be suitable for human consumption.) Do NOT drink the water!
• What would you change to further improve the design? (Possible answers might include modifications to the choice of materials used, the numbers/amount of materials used, the order the materials are layered, desire for entirely different materials, etc.)

Complete the Water Filtration Project Rubric to determine grades. Take into consideration student participation, planning worksheets, lab book content, filter success and poster presentation.

Making Sense: Have students reflect about the science phenomena they explored and/or the science and engineering skills they used by completing the Making Sense Assessment .

How can we clean dirty water? (Answer: Dirty water can be cleaned through filtration. Physical filtration removes particulates from water by straining the water through layered materials that hold back dirt and other small solids without adding other contaminants. Sand, gravel and small rocks work as natural filtration materials. Fabrics, mesh, paper and cotton are examples of human-made filtration materials.)

Safety Issues

• Remind students not to drink any water from the activity!
• Consider having students wear eye protection while working with loose materials, as particles may fly into their eyes.
• Advise students to handle glass beakers with care.

To extend the activity into chemistry, have students build model water molecules using gumdrops and toothpicks. For each water molecule, you'll need two toothpicks, two white gumdrops and one red gumdrop. The white gumdrops represent hydrogen atoms and the red one represents an oxygen atom. Place the two toothpicks into the red gumdrop at a 45° angle from each other; then place the white gumdrops at the other ends of the toothpicks.

To extend the activity into social studies, have students participate in a modified H2O Project. Challenge them to give up all beverages except water for a short period of time. Then donate the money they would have spent on juice, milk, sodas, etc., to build a freshwater well in a developing country. For more information, see http://www.theh2oproject.org/ .

• For lower grades, provide example websites for research including, but not limited to the PBS Kids Zoom Water Filter page at http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/waterfilter.html , and these U.S. EPA web pages for kids at https://www3.epa.gov/safewater/kids/ and https://www3.epa.gov/safewater/kids/flash/flash_filtration.html .
• For higher grades, have students bring in their own supplies, such as sieves, strainers or carbon-based aquarium filters to test the effectiveness of different filter designs.

Learn more about your drinking water supply, how to monitor its quality and how to keep it clean at the U.S. EPA's Drinking Water website at: http://water.epa.gov/drink/tour.

Students learn about the various methods developed by environmental engineers for treating drinking water in the United States.

Students learn about water quality testing and basic water treatment processes and technology options. Biological, physical and chemical treatment processes are addressed, as well as physical and biological water quality testing, including testing for bacteria such as E. coli.

Filtering is the process of removing or separating the unwanted part of a mixture. In signal processing, filtering is specifically used to remove or extract part of a signal, and this can be accomplished using an analog circuit or a digital device (such as a computer). In this lesson, students learn...

Closing the Loop: Recycling Water and Air in Space . NASA. Accessed November 23, 2015. (Educator reference) http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/146558main_RecyclingEDA(final)%204_10_06.pdf

Cole, Joanna. The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks . New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc., 1986.

Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster. Accessed July 16, 2015. (Source of some definitions, with some modifications.)

Water Filter. Last updated 2010. PBS Kids. Zoom, for Kids, by Kids, Activities from the Show. Accessed July 14, 2015. http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/waterfilter.html

Water Filtration Lesson, Grades 4-6. Published June 2004. Kids' Stuff, Ground Water & Drinking Water, Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed July 16, 2015. (Includes a teacher demonstration that inspired this activity.) https://www3.epa.gov/safewater/kids/pdfs/activity_grades_4-8_waterfiltration.pdf

Water Treatment Process. Last updated March 6, 2012. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed July 14, 2015. http://water.epa.gov/learn/kids/drinkingwater/watertreatmentprocess.cfm

Contributors

Supporting program, acknowledgements.

This digital library content was developed by the University of Houston's College of Engineering under National Science Foundation GK-12 grant number DGE 0840889. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the NSF and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.

Last modified: October 20, 2020

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5 Ways to Purify Water for Drinking, Cooking, and Sanitation

Last Updated: July 29, 2024 Fact Checked

• Using Bleach
• Using Sunlight
• Using UV Light

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Johnathan Fuentes . Johnathan Fuentes is a writer based in the New York City region. His interests as a writer include space exploration, science education, immigration, Latinx cultures, LGBTQ+ issues, and long-form journalism. He is also an avid hiker and has backpacked in Alaska and Newfoundland, Canada. A son of Cuban immigrants, he is bilingual in English and Spanish. Prior to joining wikiHow, he worked in academic publishing and was a freelance writer for science websites. He graduated from Columbia University in 2021, where he studied nonfiction writing and wrote for the student newspaper. He is currently counting down the seconds until the release of Kerbal Space Program 2 in 2023—a game that will almost certainly take up what little free time he has. There are 15 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 3,159,452 times. Learn more...

Purifying water is a must-have skill, whether you’re going camping or practicing emergency preparedness. There are multiple ways to do it, each with its own benefits and drawbacks. In this guide, we'll teach you a few basic techniques for purifying water for drinking, cooking, and sanitation. We’ll explain how to remove particulates from cloudy water and store purified water so that it’s safe to drink for several months. Read on to ensure you and your loved ones have drinkable water no matter what happens.

Things You Should Know

• Boil water for 1-3 minutes to kill pathogens before drinking it.
• Mix 6-8 drops of bleach per gallon (2 drops per liter) of water, then let it stand for 30 minutes before drinking it.
• To filter particles out of water, attach a portable camping water filter to a bottle, then squeeze the bottle to pass the water through the filter.

Boiling Water for Drinking

• If you only have one container for water, hold your filter over the container, then dip the container into your water source. Allow the water to pass through the filter as it fills the container.
• You can skip this step if you are purifying clear water from a faucet or similar water source.
• Water boils at a lower temperature at higher elevations. [3] X Research source Always boil water for 3 minutes above 5,000 feet (1,000 meters) to ensure you kill all the pathogens.
• Boiling does not remove other contaminants like salts, metals, fuel, toxic chemicals, and radioactive materials. Use bottled water if the water in your region contains these contaminants.
• Store at least 1 gallon of water per person for drinking and washing.
• Store extra water for pregnant people, pets, or in hot climates such as deserts. [5] X Trustworthy Source Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Main public health institute for the US, run by the Dept. of Health and Human Services Go to source

Disinfecting Water with Chlorine Bleach

• Do not use unscented or color-safe bleach, or bleach with added cleaning chemicals. These cannot be used for purifying water.
• You can also purify water with iodine or chlorine dioxide tablets. However, the amounts needed vary between manufacturers, and iodine can be harmful to pregnant people or folks with thyroid problems.
• You can also allow cloudy water to settle in the container, then filter the top layer of clear water through.
• If using 6% bleach, add 8 drops of bleach per 1 gallon of water (or 2 drops per liter of water). If you don’t have an eyedropper, add ⅛ tsp. of bleach per 1 gallon of water (or 0.15 mL of bleach per liter of water).
• If using 8.25% bleach, add 6 drops of bleach per 1 gallon of water (or 2 drops per liter of water). If you don’t have an eyedropper, add a little less than ⅛ tsp. of bleach per 1 gallon of water (about 0.1 mL of bleach per liter of water).
• Bleach cannot remove salts, metals, toxic chemicals, and other pollutants from water. Stick with bottled water if your water source has been contaminated with pollutants.

Filtering Water to Remove Particles

• Make sure your filter specifies an “absolute” pore size of 1 micron or less. Filters labeled “1 micron” or “nominal pore size of 1 micron” are not sufficient. [11] X Trustworthy Source Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Main public health institute for the US, run by the Dept. of Health and Human Services Go to source
• An “absolute” pore size of 1 micron means that all pores in the filter (the passages where water passes through) are 1 micron in size or smaller. 1 micron = 1/25,000th of 1 inch (1/10,000th of 1 cm). [12] X Research source
• These filters remove particulates and microscopic parasites, but they may not remove bacteria and viruses.
• If your kit comes with a bag for collecting water, use it to collect unfiltered water.
• For kits with water bags, attach the filter directly to the bag.
• You can also hold the bottle upside down to allow the water to sink through the filter via gravity.
• If using a water bag, squeeze and roll the bag to move water through the filter.
• Make sure to use separate containers for collecting and storing water. Otherwise, you may re-contaminate your filtered water.

Using Sunlight to Purify Water in Emergencies

• Leave 1 inch (2.5 cm) of air at the top of the bottle. Don’t fill it completely with water.
• Make sure your water is clear and free of particulates. [18] X Trustworthy Source Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Main public health institute for the US, run by the Dept. of Health and Human Services Go to source If your water is cloudy, filter it first with a coffee filter or cloth, then add it to the water bottles.
• If there’s less than 1 inch (2.5 cm) of air at the top of your bottles, pour out some of the water to leave room for air. Then reseal the bottle and shake vigorously.

• After 6 hours in full sunlight (or 48 hours in cloudy weather), the water is safe to drink.

Using an Ultraviolet (UV) Water Purifier to Kill Pathogens

• Homeowners can also install household UV purification systems. These connect directly to your plumbing, supplying you with potable water 24/7.
• Some UV purifiers allow you to specify a quantity of water to be purified. Check your device’s settings and adjust the quantity of water as needed.
• Filter cloudy water with a cloth or coffee filter before adding it to the bottle. Cloudy water blocks UV light, preventing purification.
• As with most water sanitation methods, UV purification can’t remove toxins or metals from your water. Opt for bottled water if you suspect your water source is contaminated.

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/emergency-disinfection-drinking-water
• ↑ https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2144&context=extension_curall
• ↑ https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/emergency/creating-storing-emergency-water-supply.html
• ↑ https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/home-water-treatment/water-filters.html
• ↑ https://www.unitconverters.net/length/micron-to-inch.htm
• ↑ https://youtu.be/iUsdx0UC2uU?t=66
• ↑ https://youtu.be/iUsdx0UC2uU?t=68
• ↑ https://youtu.be/iUsdx0UC2uU?t=59
• ↑ https://youtu.be/iUsdx0UC2uU?t=54
• ↑ https://youtu.be/8dPglOA7clk?t=157
• ↑ https://www.cdc.gov/safewater/publications_pages/options-sodis.pdf
• ↑ https://youtu.be/8dPglOA7clk?t=192
• ↑ https://youtu.be/tD-Ya2SQk3k?t=340
• ↑ https://youtu.be/_g9quh6T-y0?t=45
• ↑ https://youtu.be/_g9quh6T-y0?t=55

About This Article

To purify water, start by straining out large particulates like pebbles, insects, or plant matter. Pour the water from one container to another, passing it through a mesh strainer lined with a dish towel. If you don’t have a strainer, pour the water into a container and let it settle for 1-2 hours. Skin lightweight particles off the surface of the water, then gently pour the water into a clean bowl or jar. Stop pouring before you get to the bottom so the heavier sediment will be left behind. Keep in mind that these methods will not remove pathogens or heavy metals from the water. Read on to learn how to purify water using chemicals! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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From kitchen to classroom

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Separation techniques
• 3 Red cabbage rainbows
• 4 Making bath bombs
• 5 How to make butter
• 6 Tricking taste buds with toothpaste
• 7 Kitchen roll chromatography
• 8 Investigating surface tension with milk
• 9 Chalky spinach
• 10 How to purify water

How to purify water

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Water, water everywhere, let’s purify it and have a drink! Explore how to purify your own water with this experiment

In this video,  education coordinator  Catherine demonstrates how the water cycle can be used on a smaller scale to purify water. This simple activity can be set for learners to try at home with a responsible adult or used as a classroom experiment.

Equipment list

• One big container, and a small container that fits inside the large one
• Contaminant like food colouring and salt
• Something heavy like a pebble, or a ball of blu-tac

Health and safety

• If trying the water afterwards, make sure all your equipment is clean beforehand.
• If using any non-food contaminants, do not drink the water at the end of the experiment.

Activity instructions

• Make your contaminated water by mixing in a contaminant like salt or food colouring into a small amount of water. Please note that the more water you use, the longer the experiment will take.
• Assemble the experiment with the smaller container inside the larger one. Pour the contaminated water into the larger outer container.
• Cover the whole experiment with cling film. If necessary, secure with tape or an elastic band.
• Place the weight (a pebble or ball of blu-tac) in the centre of the cling film, so that it creates a low point directly above the smaller container in the middle.
• Place the experiment in a sunny spot, and wait – you can observe the changes over time.

Explanation

The water cycle, consisting of evaporation, condensation and precipitation, is an important topic for learners, and this demonstration gives a great visual aid to understand what goes on in our atmosphere. It’s also a good way to show reversible changes and how the dissolved contaminant can be separated from the mixture, and how a liquid can change state into a gas and then back to a liquid.

If you’d like to contextualise this experiment, here are some ideas:

• In space, astronauts need to clean their limited supply of water.
• You need to purify sea water after finding yourself stranded on a desert island.
• The school has asked about the differences between diet fizzy drinks and full-fat, so you could see what happens when you try to evaporate the liquids and what’s left behind.

Also check out

• For this and other space-related experiments with water, check out the Life of Water  experiment pack.
• Other separating mixtures experiments, like ‘heavy sugar’ to investigate the amount of sugar in a soft drink.
• More simple experiments using everyday equipment which your learners can try at home or you can bring to the classroom on our  YouTube playlist .
• Read the CLEAPSS guidance on practical activities for pupils at home during extended periods of school closure,  GL339 .
• Read the SSERC guidance for  primary home learning .

How to purify water teacher notes

Introduction

Separation techniques

Red cabbage rainbows

Making bath bombs

How to make butter

Tricking taste buds with toothpaste

Kitchen roll chromatography

Investigating surface tension with milk

Chalky spinach

• Practical experiments
• Practical skills and safety
• Compounds and mixtures

Specification

• Mixtures can be separated by physical processes such as filtration, crystallisation, simple distillation, fractional distillation and chromatography. These physical processes do not involve chemical reactions and no new substances are made.
• Describe, explain and exemplify the processes of simple distillation.
• 2.5 Explain the difference between the use of ‘pure’ in chemistry compared with its everyday use and the differences in chemistry between a pure substance and a mixture
• C1.4.1 describe the principal methods for increasing the availability of potable water, in terms of the separation techniques used, including the ease of treating waste, ground and salt water including filtration and membrane filtration; aeration, use of…
• C6.2g describe the principal methods for increasing the availability of potable water in terms of the separation techniques used
• C6.3g describe the principal methods for increasing the availability of potable water in terms of the separation techniques used
• Water treatment - sedimentation, flocculation, filtration, chlorination, fluoridation and pH adjustment.
• Awareness of the contributions of chemistry to society, e.g. provision of pure water, fuels, metals, medicines, detergents, enzymes, dyes, paints, semiconductors, liquid crystals and alternative materials, such as plastics, and synthetic fibres; increasi…
• 2. Research different energy sources; formulate and communicate an informed view of ways that current and future energy needs on Earth can be met.
• 1. Describe the cycling of matter, including that of carbon and water, associating it with biological and atmospheric phenomena.
• 2. Develop and use models to describe the nature of matter; demonstrate how they provide a simple way to to account for the conservation of mass, changes of state, physical change, chemical change, mixtures, and their separation.

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The Dirty Water Project

In this hands-on activity, students investigate different methods—aeration and filtering—for removing pollutants from water. Working in teams, they design, build and test their own water filters—essentially conducting their own. “dirty water projects.” A guiding data collection worksheet is provided.

Objectives:

• Use sight and smell to identify pollutants in a water sample.
• Explore what types of pollutants are removed from water by aeration and filtration.
• Design, build and test a water filtration system.
• Explain the role of engineers in water treatment systems.

Grade Level:

Time required:.

1 hours 30 minutes (can be split into two 45-minute sessions)

Credit: TeachEngineering

Lesson Files

• The Dirty Water Project Lesson Plan (.pdf)
• The Dirty Water Project Data Collection Sheet (.pdf)

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Materials Needed for this Lesson Plan

• The Dirty Water Project Kit

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The Science of Spherification

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Electricity and Magnetism Stations

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• For Teachers

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• Experiments

Water Filter

Can you make muddy water crystal clear?

Make your own water filter!

You'll be able to remove dirt, heavy metals and chemicals from filthy water!

Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fHbeJaScUnA

You Will Need

2 liters of stream or river water (or mix a handful of dirt into 2 liters of water)

2 empty clear 1-liter plastic soda bottles

30 cotton balls

A thumb tack

A stick or skewer

Optional: 2 cloth circles, about 6 inches in diameter, or round coffee filters

2 cups of cleaned activated carbon (charcoal) (this can be found in most pharmacies in the vitamin section)

2 cups of sand

1 cup of fired clay pieces (we crushed up inexpensive terracotta flower pots)

Several empty 12 oz cups to collect your filtered water (The bottle should be able to sit snugly in the top of the cups)

Materials & Directions PDF

• Example: Does changing the arrangement of the layers affect how quickly the water is filtered?
• 1 hole per “bump” on the bottom of the bottle works well.

• Layer 10-15 cotton balls in the bottom of each bottle. Pull them slightly apart, then use the skewer or stick to smush them down into all of the bumps in the bottom of the bottle. The cotton needs to cover the entire bottom of the bottle to keep the sand from coming out.
• Getting the cloth or filter in the bottle and then over the cotton can be tricky. You could ask an adult to cut the spout off your bottle so you have a larger opening to work with.
• A sand layer of about 7cm or 2 ½ inches deep is recommended.
• Experiment by adding additional layers. You could make one filter using the charcoal, make another one using the fired clay, or make one filter that uses both, or make one with just sand - experiment!
• Place a cup under your filter to catch the filtered water.
• Place the small end of the funnel in the top of the bottle and pour about 1.5 cups of the dirty water into the top of your filter. Wait several minutes for the water to filter through. The water should drip SLOWLY out of the bottom of the filter.
• See how many times you need to pour the water through your filter(s) until it becomes clear. Make a chart to track which filter works best.
• DO NOT DRINK IT! (In many cases, boiling the water for at least 1 minute would make it safe to drink, but we DO NOT recommend drinking the water from this experiment, just to be safe!)

Discovery Questions

Beginning the experiment, during the experiment, after the experiment, how it works.

The different layers of the filter help to pull the dirty particles out of the water.

• The cotton ball layer helps to keep the other layers of your filter from falling out into your water.
• The sand layer acts as a coarse filter for large muddy particles and to keep the activated charcoal or clay particles from getting into the cleaned water.
• The fired ceramic clay attracts metallic ions and is good for attracting and filtering out metallic particles.
• The activated charcoal layer is amazing at trapping the impurities in its network of holes and tunnels.

Activated charcoal is carbon that has been treated with oxygen at very high temperatures. The oxygen eats away at the carbon and makes all kinds of tunnels and pores. Just three grams of activated charcoal can have as much surface area as a football field! As water passes through this porous charcoal, the little particles and impurities get trapped inside the charcoal. “Activated” means it has a slightly positive charge and works like a magnet on negatively charged impurities that are attracted and bind to the outside of the charcoal.

After running your dirty water through the filter a number of times, it will appear to be nice and clean. But even though it looks completely clear, it MUST be thoroughly sterilized before it could be used for drinking. Boiling water is a common technique for removing pathogens, but avoid doing so unless absolutely necessary. (Again, we DO NOT recommend drinking the water from this experiment, just to be safe!)

Did you know that 75% of the earth’s surface is covered by water? Most of it is salt water and can’t be used for drinking. In fact, less than 1% of the earth’s water can be used by people!

As you saw with this experiment, filtering dirty water to make it clean enough to drink takes time and effort. It is very important to save the water we use every day and not waste it. What are some ways you can conserve water every day?

For more information, visit:

https://www.epa.gov/watersense/how-we-use-water