Where does tap water come from?

You twist the tap and clean water comes rushing out. It feels like magic! But that water has been on a long journey to reach your kitchen.

It starts with rain

When rain falls, some of it fills up lakes and rivers. The rest soaks deep into the ground and is stored in the gaps between rocks and sand, like water in a giant sponge. This hidden underground water is called groundwater.

So before water reaches you, it was a cloud, then a raindrop, then it waited in a lake or under the ground.

Cleaning the water

Water from lakes and the ground is not clean enough to drink yet. It can have bits of dirt, leaves and tiny germs in it.

So the water is sent to a waterworks. There it is filtered through sand and given a special clean-up so the germs are gone. Now it is safe and fresh to drink.

A trip through the pipes

From the waterworks, the clean water is pushed through pipes that run under the streets and into your home. The pipes are like secret tunnels for water, hiding inside the walls until they reach your tap.

Wonder fact: The water you drink is incredibly old! The same water has been falling as rain and flowing through rivers for millions of years — a dinosaur may have sipped it once.