Grades 3/4 Visit Water Treatment Plant

In their current unit of inquiry, Grades 3/4 are looking at how natural materials are changed through society’s use, and the implication those changes can have for us and for the environment as a whole.

Last Wednesday, they took a trip to a water treatment facility near Qingdao train station, to see how sewage can be cleaned for re-use. The kids got to walk all the way through the facility, seeing and smelling the sewage and observing all of the different stages until it can reenter the water supply.

Asked how he liked the trip, student Alex Wang remarked that, “It didn’t even stink! Well, not after the first part, anyway.” But would he drink the treated water? “No.” Alex and his classmates showed courage just by engaging with the process, and they’ve really proven themselves to be open-minded in thinking about how resources can be used and reclaimed.