teens discover world of water with community water services
The teens participating in Community Water Services’ inaugural H2OConnect Water Lab intern cohort experienced many new things this summer, but one experience clearly left an impression: building their own water filters. Using everyday items such as rocks, rice and coffee filters, the interns explored how they could transform dirty water to clean.
“It’s really applicable for life, just knowing how to make your water clean in case of an emergency,” said Amir Vines, a senior at the Milwaukee Academy of Science.
The filters get to the heart of the mission of Community Water Services (CWS), which is to offer education and filtration solutions for in-home safe drinking from the tap, helping all Milwaukeeans have access to clean drinking water. Last year, The Water Council partnered with CWS to secure a $300,000 federal grant through Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s office to develop a one-of-a-kind, water sector-focused mentoring and workforce development program for Milwaukee high schoolers. The program launched this summer with the first batch of interns.
The teens went on several field trips, including a visit to Discovery World’s water treatment exhibit, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s wastewater treatment plant on Jones Island and laboratories at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences to learn how lead and other contaminants in water are identified and quantified and about water careers. Following the summer’s historic rainfall, the teens also worked with Milwaukee Riverkeeper on a cleanup at McKinley Beach using the beach cleaning robot, BeBot, to help protect Lake Michigan from plastic and other debris.
At the end of August, they gave presentations about water quality and filtration to an audience at the Global Water Center, addressing topics such as how different types of water filters work and solutions for treating contaminated water.
Jaidyn Jordan, a freshman at Vincent High School, said he joined the program because he wanted to learn more about water. He said he’s concerned about lead poisoning in children and wants to be part of the effort to provide clean water for all. As of 2016, more than 11 percent of Milwaukee children tested were found to have elevated lead levels in their blood, according to the Milwaukee Health Department.
Danielle Washington, who wrote the grant for the program and led the organizational strategic planning and implementation, said the recent flooding after a period of extreme rainfall in Milwaukee made the programming even more relevant to students, revealing Milwaukee’s stormwater and infrastructural challenges. Washington, who has a master’s of public health and a bachelor’s degree in biology, said the flooding also demonstrates the need for bipartisan support in Wisconsin for community organizations and programming like CWS and H20Connect Water Lab that can expand Wisconsin’s skilled workforce and solve societal needs.
Another cohort will start work in the fall and will add lab work to the mix, using new testing and filtration equipment provided by Sage Water at CWS’ headquarters. DMR International, a member of The Water Council, and Stonehouse Water Technologies are also supporting the program.
Carleone Knight, a sophomore at Carmen School of Science & Technology Northwest, said he joined the program this summer to do something out of his comfort zone and spend time outdoors. The internship is paid, which was also an important factor, he said.
The lessons about the importance of freshwater – along with the smell at Jones Island – will stick with him in the future, he said. He hopes to go into real estate or law in the future, but he might also think about a career in water, he said.
“It’s most definitely in the back of my mind now.”
