SEVERN TRENT WATER VISIT

On Thursday morning Year 11 chemistry students welcomed guest speaker Emily Timmins, Head of Waste Water Recycling for Severn Trent Water. Our chemists are learning about the scientific and ethical implications of sustaining the Earth’s resources, and Emily introduced us to the processes involved in purifying ground and surface water and treating waste water. We also learnt about Severn Trent’s commitment to become carbon-neutral by 2030 and their numerous apprenticeship and training opportunities. Emily kindly brought students a reusable water bottle as a reminder that we can all help to minimise the amount of plastic going into our environment.  After the presentation students were asked to comment on their experience:

“It made us aware of the environmental impacts that we weren’t aware of. It was done in a way that we learnt the stuff for exams, but actually were curious and enjoyed and were engaged in the process.”

“It was really interesting to find out about a part of my life that I never really thought about before. Hearing how the water cleaning and purification cycle is performed really helped me grasp just how the water in our everyday lives gets to us, and what it goes through before it appears in our homes. I’ve also learnt that how much water we use and what we flush down our drains can have a very big impact on the environment and even the water companies themselves. This has made me want to be more cautious in the future regarding my water usage and disposal of certain items.”

“I was surprised that after all of the energy and process that has gone into cleaning water, we only drink 6% of it.”

“I didn’t know that a large amount of the waste can be recycled as an energy source”