“What happens if we don’t have clean water?” Year 5 Explore at Bough Beech

Year 5 went on a day trip to Bough Beech where they were fortunate enough to get a behind the scenes look at the water treatment works, to find out how water is made safe to drink. This trip links closely with this term’s Global enquiry question “What happens if we don’t have clean water?” 

The children gained a wealth of knowledge about the water cycle and the processes involved in cleaning the water through the interactive display in the classroom session. After that they were taken to see the reservoir that has developed as a result of creating a dam wall over the River Eden, thus creating 10 billion litres of storage water that is cleaned and treated before coming out of our taps. The children learnt about how a dam is built, how a valve tower works and then they walked along the tunnel that goes under the dam to the bottom of the valve tower. Our budding engineers were fascinated to learn about the whole process. They also learnt how the reservoir and beautiful countryside surrounding it at Bough Beech offer fantastic opportunities for visitors to enjoy bird watching, fishing and sailing.

The seven stages of the treatment cycle were intriguing to see in person from chlorination, clarification which cleans the clay, to screening, to sludge cakes and to terrifyingly tall THM towers that remove unwanted chemical by-products. Who knew there were so many tasks involved in cleaning water to make it drinkable? The entire process takes 4 hours! 

The day ended with a trip to the interactive education centre and a final note of encouragement to cut down the amount of water we use and to aim for 110 litres per person by 2050. (It is currently 150 litres).

We look forward to extending our discussions back in the Global classroom at School.