APES
Name ____________________________________
Partners’ names ____________________________
_________________________________
__
Water Treatment Lab
Modified from: education.ksd.org/.../APES/Lists/.../Water%20Treatment%20Lab.doc
Purpose: To design and implement a mini “primary sewage treatment plant.” To assess
the effectiveness of various aspects of treatment on different pollutants.
Materials available to you:
plastic water bottles
screen material
clear plastic tubing
sand
charcoal
beakers
gravel
cheese cloth
white paper
coffee filters
rubber bands
You may bring in other materials but they must be a creative “re-use.” So a toilet paper
tube would be ok, but a Brita filter would not 
“Yucky Water” *
*A mixture of pollutants will include some or all of the following: oil, sand, pebbles,
facial tissue, food coloring, vinegar and sawdust.
Day 1 Procedure
Your group is in charge of “primary treatment” of your city’s wastewater (it would be in
your best interest to research what this means if you don’t remember from the reading…).
You will be assigned teams of 3 – 4 students to design and build a primary treatment
facility. You will be given one half liter of “yucky water” and your goal will be to get the
water as clean as possible as quickly as possible at the lowest “construction cost.”
Discuss how you want to build the system and what the components will be – what will
remove various things (see potential list of contaminants above)? Then draw out a design
for your “facility.” You must include a labeled drawing that shows the components of
the system you have designed. After your design has been approved, you can then go to
the “store” to purchase building supplies for their facility. They must remember that the
goal is to build both an effective and low cost facility.
Prices of building materials:
Plastic water bottle  $500
Cup of sand  $100
Cup of gravel  100
Coffee filters  $30 each
Wire mesh screen  $50 each
Charcoal  $300 per cup
White paper  $50 each
Piece of cloth  $40 each
Rubber band  $25 each
Clear plastic tubing  $20 per 10 cm
Tape  $20 per 10 cm
Other materials TBD by teacher
DAY 2 PROCEDURE
After designing your primary treatment plants and obtaining the appropriate materials,
today you will build and test it. If you wish to alter the design of your facility you may.
However, your group must pay for all additional materials purchased.
“Treatment plants” will be graded on the following criteria (See the following page for
explicit point guidelines.) Additionally, there will be a “curve” – the project that works
the best will set the highest score. Additionally, the grade for this portion of the lab will
be scaled to 30 points. So if you earn 50/60, in the grade book it will be scored as 25/30.
This is so it is not weighted too heavily:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Were you able to build a treatment facility cost effectively? (20 pts)
How well does your facility purify the polluted water? (10 pts)
Can your facility process polluted water at a reasonable rate? (20 pts)
Is the design specific enough to be replicated by another group? (10 pts –
instructor’s discretion. Turn in one drawing per group.)
Additionally, each group must write up ONE set of answers to the following questions
in complete sentences. Put the name of the group member who answers the question next
to the number of the question (or it won’t be graded…25 points):
1. What was the component of the wastewater that was most difficult to remove?
Did your final design remove some, most, all or none of this material? (4 pts)
2. In retrospect, what was the component of the wastewater that was (or should have
been…) easiest to remove? Why? (4 pts)
3. What method of filtration worked on multiple substances? Why? (3 pts)
4. In actual waste water treatment, primary treatment is followed by secondary
treatment. Explain two processes that can be used in this type of treatment and
cite your sources. (6 pts)
5. For many years most large cities in the U. S. found along waterways and the
ocean sent water that had only primary treatment directly into those waterways.
Explain at least three problems that can result from this practice and name one
law were enacted to change this. Cite your sources. (8 pts)
The following is a list of the points that will be given according to how much was spent on the facility.
More points are awarded for spending less on the treatment facility.
Money spent
Points awarded
$0 - $1300
20
$1301 - $1350
19
$1351 - $1400
18
$1401 - $1450
17
$1451 - $1500
16
$1501- $1550
15
$1551 - $1600
14
$1601 - $1650
13
$1651 - $1700
12
$1701 - $1750
11
$1751 - $1800
10
$1801 - $1850
9
$1851 - $1900
8
$1901 - $1950
7
$1951 - $2000
6
$2001 - $2050
5
$2051 - $2100
4
> $2100
3
The following is a list of the points that will be awarded depending on the number of pollutants left in the
water after treatment.
Pollutants detectable in water:
Points awarded
0
20
1
18
2
16
3
14
4
12
5
8
6
4
7
0
The following is a list of the points that will given according to how long it takes to produce 250 ml (out of
the 500 ml you are given) of “clean” water.
Time:
Points awarded:
1 minute or less
20
5:30
10
1:45
19
6:00
9
1:30
18
6:30
8
2:00
17
7:00
7
2:30
16
7:30
6
3:00
15
8:00
5
3:30
14
8:30
4
4:00
13
9:00
3
4:30
12
9:30
2
5:00
11
10:00 +
1