OWC April 2015 E-Newsletter

To view April's E-newsletter, click here

Kids These Days ...

Yesterday, in a fit of cynicism, I wondered whether designating one day as Earth Day made any difference. Here's what happened today:

I picked up the Lethbridge Herald on the way to work and began to peruse it as I sipped coffee at my desk. Would there be any local coverage of Earth Day, I wondered? Look no further than page A3, Hometown News. Tijana Martin's got a photo in there to accompany an article by Melissa Villeneuve. The photo shows Ty Marshall, 17, from Victoria Park High School. To compliment his very cool Black Sabbath T-Shirt and shades, his plastic gloves indicate serious business as he scours the coulees for garbage. So whoever said garbage-picking isn't cool?

Lethbridge Herald featuring the "Free the Children" Earth Day clean-up action.

It wasn't just him. 100 students were out there, cleaning up the mess we have left behind.

But there's more: in addition to participating in the Earth Day cleanup, they applied for, and were successful in procuring, $1,000 through the Telus "We Give Where We Live" program. These kids donated that money to the Lethbridge Food Bank. Environmental AND Social awareness?! Makes the Oldman just tear up at the thought of it. Seriously.

So who are the great teachers inspiring these kids? You don't have to look far - there is Mr. Sadlowski in the photo, bent over with garbage bag, right behind his student, camera slung over his shoulder, hoofing it up the coulee. Reading further, there is an additional teacher involved as co-facilitator - Karla Wright. Both teachers meet every Thursday at noon with the group, called "Free The Children".

It doesn't take the Oldman long to pick up the phone to thank the teachers and the students for their great work. A Thank You goes a long way - there is an endless supply of them, yet so few in circulation. Yes, you can quote me on that. I ask whether Mr. Sadlowski thinks the group would be interested in the OWC's Film Project. Part of the project involves reaching out to students. Donations from anyone under 18 to the Film Project are honoured with a professional photo opportunity with the OWC and a special blog posting (did you know our blog has had nearly 15,000 hits?!) Best of all, students will be invited to a free "How To Film The Watershed" seminar (to be offered in Taber, Lethbridge and Pincher Creek).

Follow #oldmangoestohollywood on Twitter for updates on the Film Project and great photos!

So next Thursday, the OWC is going to Victoria Park High School in Lethbridge to meet these outstanding watershed warriors and invite them to get involved with our Film Project. I am hoping to inspire them to create their own watershed videos and upload them to our new OWC You Tube channel.

Communication, after all, isn't only about "getting our message out there". It's also about supporting each other's efforts to make our watershed a better place to live, work and play - hearing each other's messages and acting on them.

Congratulations, "Free The Children" and Victoria Park School ... and THANK YOU :-)

Safe Drinking Water In Lethbridge - And Downstream!

(Editor's Note: The Oldman recently toured the wastewater and water treatment plants for the City of Lethbridge as part of our Film Project. Here's a little update. Do check out #oldmangoestohollywood if you are a Twitter user.)

The other day, we met with OWC's Chairman, Doug Kaupp, who is also the General Manager of Water and Wastewater for the City of Lethbridge. The City has generously sponsored the OWC Film Project as a Collaborative Partner. The OWC gets $5,000 to put toward the film-making, and the City gets three videos: one for kids, one for the public at large, and one for scientists. The Collaborative Partner gets the videos at a fraction of the commercial cost, and the Oldman gets to create invaluable educational material.

For the City's videos, we toured three main sites: the waste water treatment plant, the water treatment plant and some river locations for storm outfalls and other technology.

It's a good thing this is a story told in pictures and not in smells! ...but, here we go:

So this first picture ^^ is where all the toilet flushings and drainage from the city of Lethbridge is collected to ONE POINT. I know, it's not fluffy birdies and flowers, but it's high time you knew. Yes, it stinks to high heaven.

 

That's why I was praying that the guys didn't drop or knock their fancy-dancy camera equipment into the sludge: clearly, nobody would jump in after it to save it!

There are several stages to the process, and I'm not going to walk you through them all, but it was really interesting to find out just how much effort, science (and yes, money) goes into treating wastewaster to a condition where it can be released back into the river. It is the same stuff that fish will swim in, kids will play in ... and everybody downstream will drink (after they treat it further). (Obviously this picture shows one of the initial stages, and not the end result far down the line in wastewater treatment!)

First of all, anything that will harm the other machines is caught and removed (rocks, what have you). Then, 'tons and tons' of sand is taken out. I couldn't believe it. A lot of the sand is simply from cleaning - washing your floors, etc. Apparently, a lot of people are also forgetting their rags when they flush their dirty floor water down the drain! 

A much better idea is to use biodegradable soap and dump the sand and dirty water onto your lawn - and pick out your rag.

The picture above ^^ shows part of the process where, now that the sand has been removed, the culprits grease and hair get worked over.

Are you one of the people flushing the hair from your brush down the toilet? 

It is far better to put it in the garbage. 

The same goes for your bacon fat, cooking fat, any type of grease is a real effort to remove. 

There's a little trick, actually: use an old milk carton and pour the grease into it. Close the spout so it doesn't smell and put it in the fridge and it is easily disposable in the garbage after it has set.

This is a very complicated process.  There are ten of these"sludge pools", bubbling and working away.

In fact, this process is was pioneered in Lethbridge. The gas created in this sludging process is actually captured and used for electricity to run the plant! How tidy!

And here's a photo of "Mr. Water", Doug Kaupp, who is taking the Oldman Film Crew on a tour of the facilities and explaining the wastewater treatment process to us. Doug has a lot of responsibility for taking care of us all!

There is not an alien living in this tank. It is actually ultraviolet light, used to treat the water once it's past the sludge stage. It has a green tinge due to the algae.

On to the next stage! There are several buildings, each with it's own function, and all connected with massive pipes.

Jim MacDonald, left, is the Wastewater Plant Manager in Lethbridge. A lot of people are involved in making sure our water is clean and healthy for everyone downstream.

Great chemistry brains aren't just found on TV! Brian Thomson is the brains at the water treatment plant.  Wastewater gets treated differently than water does than stormwater does. The difference? Wastewater is downstream. It's what we put down the drain. It must go through a careful cleaning process before it is put back into the river. It all goes to users downstream. The sludge removed is what powers the plant itself, but you can help by being more careful about what you put down the drain: use biodegradable soap and pour your cleaning water in the yard; don't put hair in the sink or toilet and keep cooking fats out of the drains.  Water treatment is upstream. It's what we take in from the river flowing into the City. It has come from the headwaters in the mountains and passed through the communities and landscapes to the west and we take a portion of it into the water treatment plant where we remove contaminants and treat for purity. That then, flows into your taps.  Stormwater is what falls as precipitation from above. It falls on your roof, your car, your yard. You could be capturing it from the roof in a rain barrel, making sure you don't wash your car in the driveway, avoiding the use of pesticides and herbicides in your yard (hey! dandelions are the first bee food!) - and keeping your storm drain clean. All this water collects in the gutters and is transported straight into the river. Whatever you do to your yard, fish drink. That's the concept of "We are all downstream". Luckily, more and more people are getting into gardening, permaculture and xeriscaping as beautiful - and useful - 'English lawn' alternatives. We do, really, live in a semi-arid climate.   Adding to this list, we also have groundwater, which is what you would use if you have a well.

Away from all the plants and pipes and down to the Oldman River for some fresh air!                We're going to see the weir (Get it?!!)

Nice shot, if I do say so myself. The lovely cottonwoods across the river are budding and waiting to leaf. We saw Spring's first butterflies and a few tiny flowers. Doug took us to a few different stormdrains that exit into the river. Yes - whatever is on your street- leaves, garbage, paint, soapsuds ... whatever your pour into the gutteror the street drain ... DOES NOT GET TREATED. It flows straight into the river and straight onto wildlife like beaver and trout. It is important for us, as neighbours, to keep storm drains clear. The City can't possibly come around several times a year to do this. We must have an interest in keeping our water wildlife healthy and care about human populations downstream.  The "Yellow Fish Road" program is a way for school kids to learn about storm drains and water. They paint on the little yellow fish on the storm drains as a way of reminding people that whatever goes down there directly impacts fish.

It was a beautiful day for filming and we had the best tour guide ever:                                          Thanks, Mr. Water - Doug Kaupp - and thank you to the City of Lethbridge! For more information about your drinking water, please visit http://www.lethbridge.ca/living-here/water-wastewater/Pages/default.aspx The OWC is seeking further Collaborative Partners who would like to showcase in video how they are making the watershed a better place to live, work and play. Please get in touch!

OWC February 2015 E-Newsletter

To view February's E-Newsletter, click here

OWC January 2015 E-Newsletter

To view January's E-Newsletter, click here