“Water, Water Everywhere!” – A Trip to Kingston’s Pump House

This week, the Grade 5 & 6 class took a plunge into the history of Kingston’s first waterworks in operation – The Kingston Pump House! This facility’s steam powered pumps provided the first running water to the Kingston community, starting in the year 1851. Through the program, students learned about the history of water treatment and the science behind the water pumping machinery. Students were surprised to discover that water delivered by the pumphouse was quite unfit for drinking and required serious filtration!

The students had the chance to make their own water filtering machinery, however there was a catch. Each student group represented a different country and had a different amount of money to buy resources for the filtration device. Certain groups or “countries” had to ask other countries for funds to help buy the required materials to make the filtration system. This hands-on experience tied in well with our social studies unit about Canada’s role in the Global Community. As the Canada group learned, our country has a great deal of resources and money to help support our own water purification, and that of other countries! We are blessed to have enough resources to support ourselves and others in need.