Metropolitan Water District of

          Salt Lake & Sandy

Is the Water Clean Enough to Drink?

This experiment will require a trip to the Little Cottonwood Water Treatment Plant to obtain the appropriate water samples.  (If samples are obtained from another treatment plant, source(s) of raw water will change.)

Place the water samples that look clean on the left-hand side of the table and the ones that look dirty on the right-hand side of the table.

Even though some of these waters look clean, they may not be.  Many raw water sources have bacteria contamination that comes from humans, wildlife, and livestock.  As you walk through the treatment plant you will see what is required to make dirty raw water safe to drink.

Water Sample Explanations

A:     This is a sludge sample taken from the sedimentation basin.  The sludge is formed when the

         floc settles out in the bottom of the basins.

B:     This is the only clean water sample.  It is the finished water that is leaving the plant going to

         homes throughout the Salt Lake valley.

C:     This is a raw water sample.  It comes from Deer Creek Reservoir, located in Provo Canyon.

D:     This is water from half-way through the treatment process.  This sample is from the

          sedimentation basins.  You can see the floc particles that  various chemicals produce.  This

          is used to remove many of the contaminants found in the raw water.

E:      This sample is also raw water.  It comes from Little Cottonwood Creek, located in Little

          Cottonwood Canyon.

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