Urban Water Use Cycle

Students will explore the urban water use cycle and how each part of the cycle is critical in the management of our urban water system.

Guiding Questions

• What are the essential parts of the urban water use cycle?
• What does it take for us to drink a glass of fresh, clean, delicious water, and prevent wastewater from polluting our streams?
• What makes this urban water use cycle a prime example of sustainability?

In a bustling city the size of Philadelphia with over a million people, it is a big task to manage our water system – clean, safe water to consume at the tap. Of equal importance is managing our wastewater and storm water – cleaning up what we flush or send down the drain (out of sight and out of mind) , and what  runs off our streets and rooftops down storm drains.

All of this is managed by a vast system of pipes, pumps, plants (both the green kind and the building facilities kind!) and is often hidden from view.   This system can be described as infrastructure –  the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.

We call this continuous movement of water through our infrastructure the urban water use cycle – from the freshwater river intakes as the source to the freshwater river outfalls returned.

Engage

Introduce the activity with this video animation of the natural water cycle and our own water use cycle.

Vimeo Video Link

Here are the steps to note as you watch this video

• River to River: Philadelphia’s Urban Water Use Cycle
• Intake to Drinking Water Treatment Process
• Convey to our homes and businesses
• Down the Drain
• Send to our Pollution Control Plant for Treatment
• Return clean water to the River

Video link:

Vimeo Video Link

After the video show slides 3 ,4, 5 and 6 .  Have a brief discussion about Slide 6– a side by side comparison of the natural water cycle and the water urban use cycle.

Explore and Explain

Dive into the details of each stage of the urban water use cycle starting with access and how the source of our drinking water IS the river. This relates directly to the Amplify unit on water scarcity. Students will see how, while Philadelphia has an abundance of freshwater from its rivers, we need to treat it before we can be sure it is safe for human consumption (potable) .

Take a blank sheet of copy paper oriented vertically to make a simple drawing of a 2-story house with the front wall removed (like a doll house) so you can see what is inside. Students may need some examples to show them this “section” view perspective.

First, have students draw the rectangular outline of their house’s outer walls and divide it in half with a horizontal line to make two stories. They can add a vertical wall to make a bathroom on the second floor.

On the first floor ask students to draw:

• Kitchen sink
• Washing machine or dishwasher

On the second floor ask students to delineate the bathroom wall and inside that room draw

• bathroom sink
• toilet
• shower or tub

We now need to get the treated water to our house. We will explore that in Day 2.

To close out this day’s activity, ask students what questions they have about their drinking water after watching the video.