Drink Week Day 3

The campers leaving the water tower (Photo by Eli G. and Benjamin K.)

We started at the Water Tower (Photo by John I.)

We got to go inside the water tower (Photo by Olivia P.)

We hopped onto the Ferry Boat that took us on the Mississippi (Photo by Nat S. and Caroline W.)

We passed by a bridge that moves for boats and trains (Photo by Aija, O.)

 

Day 3 of Drink week picked up where Day 2 left off. After the drinking water leaves the St. Paul Regional Water Services Treatment plant it goes out to St. Paul and other cities, like Falcon Heights (where camp is). Some of it arrives at campus, goes through the water meter, and gets pressure added with booster pumps. After the booster pumps, we walked along the pipes to the water tower and got to go inside! Cathy Abene, Principal Civil Engineer for the U of Minnesota and Madeline Knox,  explained how the water tower works and showed us the list of names of people who have climbed to the top. The water tower adds more pressure and some reserve capacity. Then we followed pipes to our camp building where the water arrives at our camp drinking fountain. What a long journey!

But that wasn't the end. After a person takes a sip from the drinking fountain, the rest of the sip goes down the drain and combines with toilet water and sink water and goes into the "sanitary sewer." Shawn, who also works for the University, lifted the man hole cover so we could peek in the sanitary sewer and see the yuck.

Then we took the bus to ride on a river boat and noticed all the life - plants, animals, and people, that depend on clean water in the Mississippi River. We even saw 3 eagles perched on branches overlooking the river.

Finally, we went further downstream to Kaposia Landing which is right across the river, from the effluent channel of the Metropolitan Waste Water Treatment Plant. This is where St. Paul and Minneapolis return their borrowed river water to the Mississippi - after they treat the sewage to be as clean as the river. At Kaposia Landing, we poured our river bottles back into the Mississippi too.

Campers and Staff at Kaposia Landing