Grace Students Tour Wastewater Treatment Facility

Careers Class teacher Stacey Doxey and D’Ann MacGregor led a group of students on a tour of Grace’s Wastewater Treatment Facility last week.  Jared Richens, who provides various engineering services to the city, and city maintenance worker Shane Hamilton joined the students, Jake Wright, and Mayor Bathlome on a tour.

The students were given an overview of Civil Engineering as a profession by Richins, who works in that capacity around the region.  The types of projects undertaken by Civil Engineers, as well as some specifics concerning the construction and management of the wastewater treatment facility were discussed by each group outside the facility on a cold afternoon with a lot of winter left in it.

The tour was divided up into girls and boys, and while the girls spoke with Richins, the boys were given a tour of the plant itself by Wastewater Treatment Facility Operator Jake Wright.  The students were given a brief overview of the chemical testing process that takes place inside the building’s lab, and introduced to the plant’s salamander mascots.  

The tour continued with a circuit around the wastewater intake area, treatment and clarifying areas, and water outlet.  The tour finished with a trip to the purpose-built solid waste collection room.  As Wright pointed out, the smell in the room was significantly less powerful than it would have been during the middle of summer.  Nevertheless, it provoked a predictable reaction among the students, particularly the girls’ group.  

Large municipal infrastructure is at the heart of the effective running of every city, and careers in positions related to its upkeep will never be in short supply, as was explained to the careers class.