A Day in the Life of a Water Purification Engineer

1. A Day in the Life of a Water Purification Engineer By Brandon Wells and J.P. Hainline

2. Introduction Dear Jake, I understand that you are wondering how my job relates to the properties of water. I work for the New York City Sanitation Department as a water purification engineer. I will try to answer any of your questions as best as I can.

3. The Beginning As soon as the water comes in from the sewer system, it all flows to the main holding tank. A skimmer runs across the top of the to capture anything that is using surface tensionto float, or is less dense than water. Density- the density of water is 1.0. Any substance with a density less than 1.0 will float on water. The opposite is also true. Surface Tension- a property of liquids that makes it seem that the surface of the liquid is covered in skin like layers.

4. The Transfer Water then flows into a small pipe using capillary action. From there it flows into a container in a large glass room. Over the container is a slanted glass sheet that leads to another container. The following process is a lot like the water cycle with its use of evaporation and condensation. Also the water takes a while to evaporate because water has a high specific heat. Capillary Action- the tendency of a liquid to rise in narrow tubes Specific Heat- the amount of heat needed to heat 1 gram of a substance by 1 degree Celsius

5. Purification Most of the harmful things come out of the water when it is evaporated onto the glass. It then runs into the holding tank next to the container. Since water is universal solvent, Many things would be dissolved inside. When the water evaporates, the solvent is left behind. It is piped to another room using cohesion and adhesion. This is done when the water sticks to another surface having the property polarity, like a pipe using adhesion and then leap frogs its self up the pipe using cohesion. Polarity- property of a molecule that has sides that have opposite charges and aren’t balanced Cohesion- water sticking to water Adhesion- water sticking to other substances

6. The Final Stages Water flows through one final pipe and then through one final screen where it cascades into another large container. Here water beads together to make weak bonds called hydrogen bonds. Here iodine tablets are added into the water as a final disinfectant.From this tankthe water is shipped out to your taps, cleaner than it has ever been. I hope that this explains everything you wanted to know about my job. On the next page there will be some fun facts about water. Hydrogen Bonds- they form in-between each atom and molecule in water

7. Fun Facts About Water • Even though ice is solid water, it has a lower density which allows it to float • Cohesion is what allows rain to fall in drops, not molecules • The substance water, is made up of two hydrogen atoms having a covalent bond with an oxygen atom • Some animals have the ability to not break surface tension and “skate” on water • Without fresh water on Earth, no land animal would survive

8. Fun Fact Pictures A water spider using surface tension to “skate” on water. The shadows around the legs is where the surface tension is occurring. An iceberg is less dense than water so it floats. A water droplet using cohesion to stick together, and adhesion to stick to the leaf.

9. Work Cited Some pictures from “clip art”