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Turning Seawater into Drinking Water

5th grade nonfiction passage about removing salt from seawater: 193 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction removing salt from seawater 193 words

Turning Seawater into Drinking Water

Most of Earth's water is in the ocean, but people cannot drink it. Seawater is far too salty, and drinking it would make a person sicker, not better. In some dry places near the coast, though, there is little fresh water to be found. Some towns solve this problem by removing the salt from seawater. The process is called desalination.

One way copies nature. Workers heat the seawater until it turns into steam. The salt is left behind, because only the water rises. When the steam cools, it turns back into drops of fresh water, just as rain forms in the sky.

Another way uses a very thin sheet with holes so tiny that water can squeeze through but salt cannot. Strong pumps push the seawater against the sheet. Fresh water comes out the other side, and the salt stays behind.

Both ways have a downside. They use a lot of energy, so desalinated water costs more than water from a river or well. The leftover salty water, called brine, must also be returned to the sea with care. Because of this, many communities try first to save the water they already have.

Questions

  1. Why can people not drink seawater? in the text

  2. What is desalination? in the text

  3. What happens to the salt when seawater is heated into steam? in the text

  4. How does the second way remove the salt? in the text

  5. Why does desalinated water cost more than river or well water? think about it

  6. Why do many communities try to save water before building a desalination plant? think about it

Words to know

desalination
the removal of salt from seawater
steam
water that has turned into a gas by being heated
energy
the power needed to make something work or happen
brine
very salty water
communities
groups of people who live in the same area
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One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 170 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.7

Most of Earth's water is in the ocean, but people cannot drink it. Seawater is too salty. Drinking it would make a person sicker. Some dry places near the coast have little fresh water. Some towns take the salt out of seawater. This is called desalination.

One way copies nature. Workers heat the seawater until it turns to steam. The salt stays behind, because only the water rises. When the steam cools, it turns back into drops of fresh water. That is how rain forms, too.

Another way uses a very thin sheet with tiny holes. Water can squeeze through, but salt cannot. Strong pumps push the seawater against the sheet. Fresh water comes out the other side. The salt stays behind.

Both ways have a downside. They use a lot of energy, so the water costs more than river or well water. The leftover salty water is called brine. It must be returned to the sea with care. So many communities try first to save the water they have.

▲ This passage · 193 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.6

Most of Earth's water is in the ocean, but people cannot drink it. Seawater is far too salty, and drinking it would make a person sicker, not better. In some dry places near the coast, though, there is little fresh water to be found. Some towns solve this problem by removing the salt from seawater. The process is called desalination.

One way copies nature. Workers heat the seawater until it turns into steam. The salt is left behind, because only the water rises. When the steam cools, it turns back into drops of fresh water, just as rain forms in the sky.

Another way uses a very thin sheet with holes so tiny that water can squeeze through but salt cannot. Strong pumps push the seawater against the sheet. Fresh water comes out the other side, and the salt stays behind.

Both ways have a downside. They use a lot of energy, so desalinated water costs more than water from a river or well. The leftover salty water, called brine, must also be returned to the sea with care. Because of this, many communities try first to save the water they already have.

■ Harder · 207 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 8.1

Although the greater part of Earth's water lies in the ocean, people cannot drink it. Seawater is far too salty, and drinking it would make a person sicker rather than better. In certain dry regions along the coast, however, fresh water is scarce. Some towns address this shortage by removing the salt from seawater, a process that is known as desalination.

One method imitates nature. Workers heat the seawater until it turns into steam, and the salt is left behind because only the water rises. When the steam cools, it condenses back into drops of fresh water, in much the same way that rain forms in the sky.

A second method relies on a very thin sheet pierced with holes so tiny that water can squeeze through them while salt cannot. Powerful pumps push the seawater against the sheet, fresh water emerges on the other side, and the salt remains behind.

Both methods have a downside. They consume a great deal of energy, which makes desalinated water more expensive than water from a river or a well. The leftover salty water, called brine, must also be returned to the sea with great care. For these reasons, many communities first try to conserve the water they already have.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put desalination, steam, energy, brine and communities on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 5 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Turning Seawater into Drinking Water"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 193 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.6. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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