So we've figured out where the water goes after the sewer: to the Wastewater Treatment Facility! We know where ours is located here in Chicago, and we're certainly curious what happens there.
So the students suggested we take a field trip, and sadly they're not old enough to go to our local WWTF (you have to be 12). But with some creative brainstorming, suggesting various investigations we could do to figure out how the water is possibly cleaned, we decided to:
MAKE AND ATTEMPT TO CLEAN THE WATER OURSELVES!
So the students suggested we take a field trip, and sadly they're not old enough to go to our local WWTF (you have to be 12). But with some creative brainstorming, suggesting various investigations we could do to figure out how the water is possibly cleaned, we decided to:
MAKE AND ATTEMPT TO CLEAN THE WATER OURSELVES!
We thought of things we could put into the water in our classroom that were similar to what we know ends up in the sewers from our drains. We had chocolate chips for poop, actual toilet paper, household materials like salt and sugar, and even chemicals like vinegar (some folks use this to clean and it's safe for school purposes). We spent two whole days making the dirty water, documenting what we saw happen.