DIY Water filter

September 2020
Science: Fabulous Water Filter!

Ages: 7 - 13
Hello everyone. This is Bill from the Okanagan Regional Library System. Welcome to the fun and
inventive world of making STEAM projects in your own home. Each month, I will share a fun
and interesting project that you can make using materials commonly found in your own home.
Even though we can’t be together right now, we can still learn how to make exciting projects
each week!
This month’s project: How to Make Clean Water using Your Fabulous Water Filter.
Water Filter
Imagine having a drink of water from rivers, lakes or ponds – like lots of people in the world do
– instead of turning on a faucet or opening a bottle to get pure clean water. You would have to
find a way of removing mud and other unpleasant substances mixed in the water before
quenching your thirst. In this experiment, you will make a simple water-filtering device using a
plastic bottle. Watch dirty water become cleaner before your very eyes.
Water coming straight from natural sources often carries impurities that can make you ill if you
drink them. You can easily remove leaves and twigs, and dead bugs floating on the surface. Yet,
mixed up in dirty water there are millions of smaller particles, some of which carry bacteria and
viruses that you simply can’t see. How do you get rid of those? The answer is, you have to make
a trap to catch them.
Materials Needed:
• Charcoal
• Sand
• Small, clean stones
• Small gravel
• Medium sized gravel
• Garden Soil
• Plastic bottle
• Pitcher of Water
• Scissors
• Spoon
• Cotton Balls
• Leaves and grass
Time: 30 minutes
Making a water filter is just the first part of this experiment. You will also be making your own
dirty water to test it. The materials you need are not hard to get, but you might need help to
find some of them. Even though the completed filter does a pretty good job, the water that
passes through it still will not be clean enough to drink. So just pour it away afterwards.
Steps:
1. First, cut all around the bottle with scissors, just about half way up . If you find
this tricky, ask an adult to do it for you. The top part is going to be the filter. The
bottom part makes a holder for the top and collects the filtered water.
2. If your bottle has a cap, remove it. Tightly pack the cotton balls into the mouth
of the bottle. These will trap very small pieces of dirt floating in the water.
3. Put the top part of the bottle upside down into the bottom part of the bottle.
Add a lay of charcoal on top of the cotton balls. If your charcoal is in bigger
chunks, crush it first to break it into smaller pieces.
4. Add sand about 2 cm deep. Press it hard with your fingertips to push d own the
sand and the charcoal beneath it. These packed layers will slow down the water
flow, trapping lots of dirt.
5. Next, add a 1 cm layer of the small gravel. On top of that, add a 2 cm layer of
medium-sized gravel. You must pack these two layers as firmly as you can, just as
you did with the sand and the charcoal.
6. Finally, add the small pebbles. Make sure you completely cover the top of the gravel.
See how the gaps between the particles of each layer have grown bigger and bigger
toward the top. Now that your water filter is ready to put to work, you need to make
some dirty water.
7. Fill the pitcher with water and add as much of the soil as you would like. Stir it up
with a spoon so that the soil mixes in thoroughly. The smallest pieces of soil will be
“suspended” – left floating – in the water. Some parts will dissolve.
8. Drop in a few leaves and blades of grass. Your water is now well and truly dirty. It
contains particles of many different sizes and various dissolved substances. Many of
these might make you ill if you drink the water.
9. Slowly pour some dirty water onto the pebbles at the top of your filter. Hold the
filter steady to make sure it does not topple over. Watch as the water trickles
through the layers, and emerges much cleaner as the bottom.
The Science behind your Water Filter
Water always finds a path through the pieces of stone, gravel, sand, charcoal and cotton balls.
But the gaps or pores, trap particles that are suspended in the water. As the pores get smaller
in each layer, particles are trapped throughout the filter, rather than all in one layer, which
would quickly get clogged up. The charcoal removes some of the dissolved substances from the
water, purifying the water in a process called adsorption.
Real World Science – Life-Saving Water Filtration Straw
After a disaster like an earthquake or flood, it may be impossible to find clean water. The
LifeStraw is a filter that allows people to drink , directly from any source of water, however
dirty. Packed with tiny fibers, the straw’s pores trap tiny organisms that could otherwise cause
illness.
STEAM
This activity includes everything you need for a comprehensive STEAM project.
Science: Understanding how water filtration works.

Technology: Understanding how water filtration systems can be built to save lives.
Engineering and Art: Construction of the water filter.
Math: Measuring and cutting out the parts needed to construct your water filter.

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September 2020

Science: Fabulous Water Filter!

Real World Science – Life-Saving Water Filtration Straw

Science: Understanding how water filtration works.

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