What does end up at the sewage treatment plant? Your students will discover the answers through the following three activities.
Download the lesson plan
This lesson plan contains modules explicitly linked to the Victorian Curriculum. It has also been adapted into an excursion tour kit that can be used in conjunction with guided tours of the Western Treatment Plant, run by Melbourne Water's Education team.
Download the full plan or individual activities below.
Activities
Activity 1: Down the drain in my house
Students explore different household materials that may end up in the sewage at the sewage treatment plant and they conduct a home audit of sewage that enters the sewerage from their home.
Duration: Two double sessions
Activity 2: Sewage, sewerage and the sewage treatment plant
Students create a social message on ‘What should or should not be put into the sewerage system’.
Duration: One double session
Activity 3: The sewage treatment plant and my family
Students develop a visual flow chart of the sewerage system from home to the sewage treatment plant.
Duration: One double session
Victorian curriculum links
- VCSSU056: Science knowledge helps people to understand the effects of their actions
Science > Science understanding > Science as a human endeavour - VCSSU044: Objects are made of materials that have observable properties
Science > Science understanding > Chemical sciences - VCSSU047: Earth's resources are used in a variety of ways
Science > Science understanding > Earth and space sciences
Resources
What is sewerage?
Greater Melbourne's sewerage has provided Melburnians with world-class sanitation for over 100 years, protecting public health and the environment. Find out more about it.
What is sewage?
Discover more about sewage, then read the benefits of 'poo power' harnessed by the treatment process. Watch our videos on the treatment process here.
Western Treatment Plant
Learn more about this world-class facility with our new virtual tour, with stunning 360-degree views you can access anytime, anywhere.