Take a Virtual Tour of a Drinking Water Plant

Sometimes, it pays to go back and look at what has come before.  In this case, ASDWA was looking through EPA’s archives and came upon a great training and resource tool, a Virtual Tour of a Drinking Water Plant.  Created in 2006, the basics are still the basics and how a treatment plant works has not changed that much!
The Virtual Tour begins with source water, works its way through topics such as filtration and disinfection, and concludes with information about distribution systems.  Within each segment, users can also click on additional information about quality & safety, cost, environment, fun facts, and a glossary of terms.  There are also exercises for those who want to test their water knowledge and links to useful web-based resources.
We’ve been thinking about water that is safe to drink for a very long time.  For example, did you know that, 3500 years ago, King Tut drank water that had been “processed” with alum to coagulate the suspended sediments in the Nile?  In 400 BC, Hippocrates, the Greek “father of medicine,” called for water to be boiled and strained through a cloth before serving.
Virtual Tour of a Drinking Water Treatment Plant (requires Adobe Flash).
This video can be viewed in English and Spanish.  This link will open up a large file that may take several minutes to open based on your internet connection speed.
This CD can be ordered by calling 1-800-490-9198 and requesting EPA publication number 816-C-06-002. You can also go to http://www.epa.gov/nscep/ place your order using the same publication number.
So, if you’re looking for a terrific tool to share for Drinking Water Week, have a new water board or group of commissioners that could use some “water 101” education, or know of a teacher interested in some clever projects for middle school students (how about build your own aquifer?), this resource may be just the answer for you…take a look!