Before We Drink It: Watershed Protection and
Drinking Water Treatment (1.5 hours)
Environmental Learning Centers of Connecticut
and the Bristol Water Department (BWD) have teamed to provide Before We Drink
It!, a 1 ½ -hour water conservation lesson and tour of the Bristol Water
Treatment Plant. The lesson is sponsored by BWD and provided free of charge
for all of the sixth grade classes in schools in Bristol. Schools outside of
Bristol may schedule the program for a fee.
Before We Drink It!
may be scheduled by calling the business office
of the ELCCT at (860) 589-8200. Program scheduling is based on the availability
of the water treatment facility.
Before We Drink It
Students will arrive at the Bristol Water
Treatment Plant where the water conservation lesson and plant tour will be
conducted. The students will be oriented with the rules of the treatment
facility before beginning the program. During the tour, students will walk
through the water treatment facility in order to learn the flow of water through
the various stages of treatment, from raw (reservoir) water to the treated
(potable) water ready for distribution. At various points throughout the tour,
students will stop and gather in a half-circle around the instructor in order to
observe each stage of the process as it is explained by the instructor.
Students
will be aided in drawing the connection between the watershed, reservoirs, and
the drinking water supplied by the treatment plant as they learn the importance
of protecting the watershed and reservoir areas from contamination. A
relief (three-dimensional) map is
used to show how the watershed can be defined. Reservoir water will then be
viewed under a microscope to allow students to observe the suspended particles
that are later removed during the treatment process. This water is then used to
visually reinforce the treatment process using a scale model cross-section of
the filter beds and flow charts. To increase student understanding of the
treatment plant function, the processes demonstrated in the model are then
related to the whole, large-scale operation of the treatment plant.
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