Discover how daily bathroom breaks transform into clean water ready to return to our rivers this Saturday, July 29, 2023.
News release from Fort Wayne City Utilities:
Solving the Mysteries of the Flush
WaterWorks FunFest: It’s Sewer-sationalFort Wayne, Indiana (July 27, 2023) – Discover how daily bathroom breaks transform into clean water ready to return to our rivers this Saturday, July 29, from 11a-2p at the Water Pollution Control Plant, 2601 Dwenger Avenue. This FREE, family-friendly event will offer the curious and fun-loving a chance to explore “The Science Behind the Flush.”
Be sure to join a guided tour. They start with a journey into the screening and high-powered pump building, where wastewater treatment unfolds. Then it’s on to the high-tech control room, the nerve center of the plant controlling the processing of 100 million gallons per day. Finally, tourgoers will investigate the lab where waste-eating bugs come to life under the lens of a high-powered microscope. It’s a magical mystery ride with a poo-rific ending.
Tours in the Screening & Pumping facility, the Control Center and the Laboratory will use the approximate following schedule:
- 11:15 am
- 11:50 am
- 12:30 pm
- 1:15 pm
Attendees should request a tour time when they arrive.
The day also includes an up-close view of one of MamaJo’s — the Tunnel Boring Machine —cutter heads that pounded through bedrock to dig a deep rock sewer tunnel 200 feet underground. The exhibit will also feature rock cores retrieved from the dig depths.
Exhibitors from Science Central, Allen County Soil & Water Conservation, Purdue University Fort Wayne Environmental Resources Center, and Animal Care and Control expand the fun with hands-on activities. Through interactive exercises, City Utilities’ team members will illustrate why wipes should stay out of our toilets, how to handle mercury contamination, how to manage stormwater runoff and learn about ways to protect our rivers.
For those in awe of big rigs, working trucks will demonstrate how remote control cameras peer into our more than 1,400 miles of pipes and how the powerful vac truck can suck up sludge and clear blockages in pipes and drains. A Fort Wayne Fire Department truck and big ‘off the road’ trucks used at the Biosolids facility will also be on-site to wow the kids. As a bonus, containers of biosolids (great nutrients for gardens and flowerbeds) will be available for visitors to take home to enrich landscapes.
If you want to be part of curbing storm runoff, stop by one-of-two Rain Garden Workshops. They’re full of suggestions for improving drainage in yards at home. Rain Garden Workshop times are 11:30 am and 12:45 pm.
WaterWorks FunFest is a high-energy day for all ages. There will be music, oversized games offering prizes, an opportunity to learn and play the award-winning Cloudburst Game, and the delicious treats of food trucks: Drop it Like it’s Tot and Sweets on the Streets.
Thanks to our sponsors Fox Contractors, CL&S Landscaping, and Quasar Energy Group, for their support in promoting scientific knowledge about wastewater treatment and its vital role in public health and environmental sustainability. For more information.
***The plant has several different surfaces and attendees should wear good walking shoes and not flip flops or sandals.
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