Feature

From ground to tap

By 2014-03-01T15:43:00

Water pouring into a drinking glass

Source: iStock

Sue Thompson leads us through the journey water takes from underground to our drinking glass

Affinity Water supplies 900 million litres of drinking water daily to 3.5 million people based in north-west London and the home counties. Their customers live in the London boroughs of Harrow, Hillingdon, Barnet, Brent, Ealing and Enfield, and in parts of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Essex and Kent.

‘The use of chemistry in the water industry is widespread,’ says Richard Lake, process engineering science manager at Affinity Water. ‘However, it’s not just using chemistry to treat the water which is important, but also understanding the chemistry of emerging pollutants and how the water can be made safe.’

Thanks for using Education in Chemistry. You can view one Education in Chemistry article per month as a visitor. 

A photograph of a teacher standing in a white lab coat, speaking with a class of children in a laboratory, is superimposed on a colourful background. Text reads "Teach Chemistry means support for classroom and staff room".

Register for Teach Chemistry for free, unlimited access

Registration is open to all teachers and technicians at secondary schools, colleges and teacher training institutions in the UK and Ireland.

Get all this, plus much more:

  • unlimited access to resources, core practical videos and Education in Chemistry articles
  • teacher well-being toolkit, personal development resources and online assessments
  • applications for funding to support your lessons

Set up your Teach Chemistry account

Already a Teach Chemistry member? Sign in now.

Not eligible for Teach Chemistry? Sign up for a personal account instead, or you can also access all our resources with Royal Society of Chemistry membership.