Healthy Sanitary Sewer Systems for Healthy Waterways
By Sabreena Verma
Where does the water from our sinks, toilets and showers go, and how can we keep this water cleaner? At Harding Elementary School in El Cerrito and Lincoln Elementary School in Oakland, our KIDS for the BAY Environmentalists learned how to keep our sanitary sewer system more healthy and less polluted in a special wastewater lesson made possible by our partnerships with Stege Sanitary District and East Bay Municipal Utility District – Wastewater Division. Students were excited to dive deeper into what happens when we turn on our water faucets at home.
“I think the water from our houses and our school goes through a process where it gets cleaned several times,” said Grayson, a third grader in Teacher Claudia Hung Haas’s class at Lincoln Elementary. KftB Educator Sabreena Verma replied, “Exactly! That water from our homes is called wastewater. Wastewater can be treated until it is clean enough to be released back into the San Francisco Bay. East Bay Municipal Utility District, or EBMUD for short, is a government agency that is in charge of treating our wastewater and distributing clean drinking water all over the East San Francisco Bay Area. You get to participate in this special lesson at Lincoln Elementary because you all live right by the EBMUD headquarters. Who here has heard of EBMUD?” The majority of students in the class had heard the acronym or seen the logo. “I always see the EBMUD wastewater treatment plant when I go on the Bay Bridge,” said Kevin. Ms. Sabreena showed the class a map of the EBMUD service area, and students were surprised to discover that EBMUD provides wastewater services for 740,000 people and clean drinking water for 1.4 million people!
Students at Harding Elementary School were thrilled to learn about their proximity to Stege Sanitary District, and the wastewater collection services that Stege provides for El Cerrito, Kensington, and a portion of the Richmond Annex. “You live really close to Stege Sanitary District. Stege is responsible for collecting and transporting sewage to the EBMUD wastewater treatment plant, where our water gets cleaned,” Ms. Sabreena explained.
Our young Environmentalists learned that keeping pollutants out of our drains is important to keep the sanitary sewer system healthy and functioning properly. Students discussed items that can safely go down the drains in our homes: “Toilet paper,” said Musawer. “Shampoo and soap products,” added Josephine. “Body production stuff! In other words, human waste,” concluded Queenie. When discussing what should not go down the drain, students replied with some insightful answers: “You shouldn’t put wipes in the toilet, even if they’re supposed to be flushable!” said Jason. “Plastic, like plastic straws!” said MingDao. “Grease from food can clog up drains, so I wipe it with a paper towel and throw it in the trash can, and sometimes my mom saves leftover grease to cook with,” said Meghan. “Pills and medicine. Fish will get sick if they take our medicine!” said Tye.
The KftB Environmentalists couldn’t wait to conduct an exciting, hands-on science experiment to help them learn more about the sanitary sewer system, and how to keep it healthy. Students were thrilled to learn that they would be building model wastewater treatment plants using soda bottles, coffee filters and cheesecloth to simulate how wastewater gets cleaned. First, students placed the top half of the soda bottle, previously cut and inverted, into the lower half of the bottle. Students then draped coffee filters and cheesecloth over a layer of small pebbles in the bottom of the inverted half to provide further filtration. Half of the class received unpolluted wastewater consisting of water and coffee grounds, while the other half of the class received polluted wastewater. The polluted wastewater also contained vegetable oil to represent FOGs, blue dish soap to represent medicine, and colorful beads to represent plastic trash pollution.
Student scientists made observations as they poured their polluted or unpolluted mixtures into their models. “Pollution is blocking our pipes!” said Andro. “It’s going to take years for the polluted water to drain!” exclaimed Geiann. Students observed what the water looked like after it passed through the treatment plant and using turbidity guides, assigned a number to represent the turbidity or murkiness of their wastewater. “Our water started at turbidity level six, and now it is at turbidity level two. It looks like lemonade,” said Da’Sauni. “The unpolluted treatment plants are draining faster than the polluted treatment plants,” remarked Queenie. “I think our water didn’t get filtered properly because it has a bunch of pollutants in it,” said Andro.
By building scientific models and conducting scientific investigations, students learned how our wastewater is collected and treated, and gained a new understanding of the importance of wastewater pollution prevention to keep our sanitary sewer system healthy. This exciting, hands-on experiment inspired students to make better choices about what they put down the drain, and showed them some of the ways they can be Environmentalists! “We should keep our wastewater as clean as possible to help the environment!” said Nora.
This special lesson is supported by our partnerships with East Bay Municipal Utility District – Wastewater Division and Stege Sanitary District.
