Where does water from the sink go?

Splash! You turn on the tap and wash your hands. Feel the cool water run over your fingers. Then it swirls into a little hole and is gone. Where does water from the sink go?

The little hole at the bottom of the sink is the drain. The water slips in there because water always runs downhill. The drain sits at the lowest spot, so the water finds it.

Under the sink, the drain leads into a pipe. The pipe slopes gently down, so the water keeps on rolling. It runs through the wall and under the floor, right out of your house.

Outside, your pipe joins a much bigger pipe under the street. This big pipe is called a sewer, which means a long pipe that carries away used water. Water from lots of houses flows into the sewer.

In the sewer, water from kitchens, baths and toilets flows along together. It is dirty now, full of soap and bits of food. The sewer keeps sloping down and carries it far across town. Where do you think all that dirty water is going?

The sewer carries it all the way to a cleaning place for water. This place sits at the edge of town, beside a river. There the sewer ends, and the water pours into giant tanks.

Workers at the cleaning place make the dirty water clean. First they let it rest in the tanks. Mud and bits of food are heavy, so they sink to the bottom, and the workers take the mess away.

Next, the workers blow air bubbles into the water. The bubbles help tiny living things, too small to see, gobble up the soap and dirt that is left.

Last, the workers check that the water is clean. Now it is safe for fish and ducks again. Then they let the clean water flow gently into the river.

Let's remember our special word: sewer. Your sink water runs downhill through the sewer to a cleaning place, then a river.

Next time you wash your hands, wave goodbye to the water on its long trip to the river.