Y5 Purifying Water Investigation

Written by the Y8 experts!

Lots of people take having clean water coming out of their taps for granted.

Some people in the world don’t have access to water that is suitable for drinking. They might also have to carry the water a long way.

We looked at how to clean water. From screening and settling to filtration and chlorination.

We then tested some different filters using various materials and some very muddy water.

We used filters made out of:

Newspaper Filter paper Cotton Nylon Felt Foam Checked wool fabric Cord-type fabric

We ranked how fast they were and how much of the sand and mud they took out.

We poured 100ml muddy water into each filter.

The filter paper took out the most mud. The cord-type fabric took out the least dirt and the filter paper took the most.

We took our ideas back to our classes and shared them with the pupils who were not water explorers. We told them to save water and how they could do it. We collected some pledges…

Examples of some pledges:

Ben – “I will not run the tap when tooth brushing”. Chloe – “ I will stack the dishwasher fuller”. Megan – “ I will have a shower not a bath”. Jake– “I might not flush the toilet if it’s just a wee”.