Water Treatment and Safe Drinking Water — Interactive Lesson (Ages 14–16)

Is borehole water safe, and is sachet water really pure? Teach how water is made safe to drink. This 22-slide interactive lesson on potable water takes pupils from first ideas to exam-style explanations, with 13 self-marking activities and nothing to prepare beforehand.

Teaching Water Treatment and Safe Drinking Water in GCSE Chemistry

Pupils distinguish pure water from potable water, describe how fresh water is filtered and sterilised, and explain why desalination by distillation or reverse osmosis is expensive. They describe the stages of waste water treatment, from screening to anaerobic digestion of sludge, and how to test and purify a water sample in the required practical.

What Pupils Will Learn

• Explain the difference between pure water and potable water.
• Describe how fresh water is treated to make it potable.
• Describe how sea water can be desalinated, and why it is expensive.
• Describe the main stages of waste water treatment.
• Describe how to test and purify a water sample.

What’s Included

• 22-slide interactive lesson
• 13 self-marking activities: multiple-choice questions, true-or-false checks, sorting tasks, drag-and-drop categorising and fill-in-the-gap questions
• Step-by-step teaching cards that reveal one point at a time
• A written explanation task with a model answer for self-assessment

Why Teachers Love It

• No prep — open it on an interactive whiteboard, laptop or tablet
• Instant feedback explains every answer, right or wrong
• Everyday examples make chemistry feel real
• Works for whole-class teaching, independent study or revision

Curriculum Alignment

Supports UK GCSE Chemistry and Combined Science (AQA, Edexcel and OCR) and the Nigerian Senior Secondary Chemistry curriculum (SS1–SS2), including WAEC and NECO exam preparation.

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FAQ

What year groups is this for? Years 10–11 (ages 14–16), and SS1–SS2 in Nigeria.

Is it self-marking? Yes — all 13 activities give instant feedback.

Do pupils need to log in? No. The lesson runs in any modern web browser.

Can I use it for revision? Yes. Pupils can replay it as often as they like, and the results screen shows which questions to review before a test.