Drip drop, it was raining. I plunged down from the sky and thundered into a lake. Except that this was not a very clean lake. There was dirt, rocks, particles, and worst of all, bacteria! Yuck, I hate bacteria! They came swiftly up to me and infested every bit of water in me that they could find. Suddenly, there was a loud sucking noise and I was sucked into a brown pipe! What is going to happen to me? I was filled with fear.
The pipe twisted left and right, up and down. I had no idea where I was going. I felt paralyzed with fear. Suddenly, we got dumped into a settling tank. I peeked around, and it looked like that I had arrived at a water treatment plant. Although I have never been to a treatment plant, I have heard of it from my water droplet friends. This was a magic place where I could become clean again!
Slowly but surely, dirt, bottles, and rocks drifted to the bottom of the settling tank, but I floated onwards to a black pipe. As I was twisted up the black pipe, I still felt nervous, but a little calmer.
Soon I came to a second tank. This one was filled with sand and gravel. I swam as quickly as I could towards the sand and gravel. I swam harder and harder, but the bacteria swam faster and faster as well and stayed with me. Finally, I managed to wiggle through the gravel. Turning around, I saw the bacteria cursing beyond the sand and gravel because they couldn't get through! Yeah! I felt overjoyed, and I stuck my tongue out at them. And soon I was sucked up another pipe. This time instead of feeling scared, I felt calmer. Maybe it was because I had gone through so many pipes that I was becoming used to it, or maybe it was because this pipe was longer but less curvy. I saw the end of the tube, and swam towards it. I was emptied into a third tank. This one was empty and I was looking for another pipe, when suddenly, a hand came out of nowhere and scooped some of the other water droplets into a test tube. Looking up, I saw that the hand belonged to a scientist in a white lab coat. She loaded the test tube into a cart and walked into another room with large glass windows. The sign on the door said Water Quality Testing Lab.
I sat there watching through the windows. That room was filled with instruments, computers, and different bottles. Some looked clear, some looked cloudy, and some were filled with liquid of different colors. I watched the scientist do different tests on the water in the test tube for algae, fecal coliform and diatoms. After what seems to be a lifetime, I saw the scientist nodding her head with a smile on her face.
Suddenly a sucking noise made me turn. I was once again sucked up into another tube with other pipes. I followed everyone else and kept going. It seemed like years before I saw the opening, and this time I drifted down a faucet into a cup. That was the adventure I had in the water treatment plant. And thinking back, it was actually kind of ... fun!
Pictures of me in the process:
Before treatment:
Before 2nd tank:
In the final tank:
