Publication Date: Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Down and dirty
Down and dirty
(January 19, 2005) Students learn valuable lessons from raw sewage
by Tony Burchyns
Amid vials of sulfuric acid and "faux" sewage water made from a mixture of coffee grounds and pet food, Gunn High School students donned goggles and gloves to work with a stinky subject before winter break -- raw sewage treatment.
"Yeah, it's kind of gross," said freshman Neva Hauser.
Hauser and her fellow students are part of a seven-day activity to teach students how much work goes into cleaning up the endless flow of polluted water from toilets, sinks and washing machines before it reaches the Bay.
The roving lab, developed in part by Palo Alto's Regional Water Quality Control Plant, integrates chemistry, physics and microbiology while raising questions about personal responsibility, technology and societal issues, said Stephanie Hughes, a source manager at the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant and one of several individuals who collaborated with San Jose State University engineering professors to develop the lab in 1997.
"It's very important from an environmental perspective and a health perspective," Hughes said. "In countries without wastewater treatment, there are still outbreaks of cholera and typhoid."
Gunn is one of 13 Bay Area high schools that teach the sewer science lab, but that number may increase. Over the last two years, thanks to Hughes, the sewer science lab has gained national attention through the Water Environment Federation, a 77-year-old not-for-profit organization based in Virginia.
Hughes contacted an education representative from the group in 2003 and pitched the classroom lab as a project for the federation to promote nationally
"This is totally unique," said Loraine Loken, the senior manager of public education for the organization. "I know of no other program that deals with wastewater treatment. It's been very successful in L.A. and New Orleans (the sites of the last two conferences)."
As Gunn students do the lab, they attempt to "clean" simulated wastewater using the same methods as a real wastewater treatment plant.
First students mix coffee grounds, bits of toilet paper, cut-up pieces of plastic, pet food, ammonia and vegetable oil to create "polluted" water. Then they apply primary, secondary and advanced treatment methods using sedimentation, biological organisms and disinfectants to remove various pollutants from the icky water.
A series of specially designed tanks on loan from the Palo Alto water control plant ease the process, displaying light-to-dark shades of brownish liquid.
"They really get into the 'yuck' factor," said Kathy Suter, a lab manager at the South Bay System Authority, a Redwood City wastewater treatment plant that offers the same lab in San Mateo County classrooms.
Suter, who visits classrooms to help facilitate the lab in the neighboring county, said giggling is often unavoidable as students confront a topic that brings to mind images of condoms and tampon applicators -- along with the obvious -- being flushed down toilets.
"I try to make sure they know the real words, 'feces' and 'urine' -- but we try to be real straight forward about it," Suter said.
At the end of the lab, a representative from the regional water control plant holds up a sample of real sewage for everyone to see.
"Ewww!" the students exclaimed.
Suter said students also use microscopes to see the effects of careless discards in the greatest detail possible.
"You're killing the organisms that are doing the treatment if you pour chemicals down the drain," she said. "(Drains are) not a method of disposing fats, oils, greases, pesticides and cleaners. And in this area, mercury is a huge concern, so we want to emphasize not to throw thermometers down the drain if they break."
A broader issue to get across, Hughes said, is the world's population growth and the strain it's putting on natural resources. In addition to implementing new technologies for water conservation, she said future policymakers might have to invest big sums of money to find better wastewater recycling technologies.
For now, some of Palo Alto's reclaimed ("cleaned") sewer water -- still unsuitable for drinking -- goes to sprinklers at the nearby Municipal Golf Course, or at Greer Park. But most of it winds up in San Francisco Bay, which used to receive untreated sewage from local plants.
Loken, with theWater Environment Federation, said her organization is seeking funds to purchase labs and train teachers across the country how to use them.
Suter called last year's presentation of the sewer science lab a hit at the Water Environmental Federation's New Orleans conference, where more than a thousand teachers, educators and municipality officials gathered.
"The classroom teachers really seemed to be interested in the program and interested in what we're doing," she said. "They like the fact that it's hands-on, and it's something that's real."
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