What happens after we flush?

I really felt like Ms. Frizzle in a Magic Schoolbus book on this field trip! This was not your usual field trip to the zoo. (That comes later!) No, this time, we went on a rather stinky, but ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING tour of the Redondo Wastewater Treatment Plant in Des Moines to find out what happens after we flush the toilet and how we make sure sewage doesn't end up in the Puget Sound.

 First we looked at some water samples -- on the left is how the water looks when it comes in, on the right is how it looks when it leaves the plant. Quite a difference!

Then we saw how all the garbage (diapers, wipes, and anything else that shouldn't really be flushed) is screened out of the water coming in from the sewage pipes of more than 2,000 homes in this area. This is compacted and is the only waste in this process that gets put into a landfill.

Then we walked over the area where the water flows into the plant. This is where things start to get a little smelly.

Here we head into the first of several settlement tanks - it's a multi-stage process.

 In these huge circular holding tanks, sediment seeps to the bottom and the water on top is filtered out. Bacteria is used to break down the sludge. Big arms sweep around the bottom of the tank and push the sludge to pipes in the center that separate the waste. 

 Here we are heading down the stairs to see what goes on below the tanks.

You can't see it well here, but the sludge (um, yes, that was once poop) from the tanks is coming down through this pipe. It gets separated, treated, and eventually broken down enough to be used as fertilizer.

 These labels say it all!

The water filtered off the top of the tanks goes through several stages before finally going into this room. At this point almost all the harmful substances and chemicals have been removed, and in this final stage it is treated with UV light, which kills off any remaining bacteria.

 Finally, the now-clean water is pumped back out into the sound through a large pipe under this grate.

The sludge that has been separated from the water has a different destination. This truck is holding the waste material, now a class 3 fertilizer, destined for non-food crops in eastern Washington. 

We ended our visit with a great discussion about how "dirty jobs" like the one the gentlemen do at this facility require a scientific background and a whole lot of math. None of the people who work here like the smell, but they said you get used to it after a while, and the fact that they are helping to keep our Puget Sound clean makes their jobs worthwhile. All in all, a worthwhile field trip!

Learning to be Citizen Scientists

As we TRANSITIONed from studying American History into a focus on Environmentalism, we made a trek to the Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, where we got an up-close and personal view of the mighty buffalo we'd been learning about.

We also saw mountain goats, Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer, bighorn sheep, moose, ducks and swans on the tram tour.

An owl posed for us.

We started to learn about the web of life and how all living things are interconnected.

The grizzly bears were active and came close enough for a good view.

We had a personal trailside encounter with a tiny brown bat.

We learned how they fly and perch upside down, holding onto things with their tiny claws. We also learned that they eat an astounding number of mosquitos!

We learned how to identify different animals by their scat.

And we practiced being citizen scientists by "Nature Mapping" - recording all the different signs of animals we could find on the trail by looking and listening closely.

Finally, we stopped by to visit some smaller animals -- this frisky raccoon was fun to watch. We also saw porcupines, fishers, beaver and wolverines!

Another trip back in time ...

After WORKING on the railroad (check out the Navigators Blog at http://seaburyschoolnavigators.blogspot.com to learn about the Great Trans-Classroom Railroad Project), we decided we'd earned a ride on one, too.

So we loaded up our time machine (our trusty school bus) and headed back in time to the late 1800s for a ride on an antique train at the Northwest Railroad Museum, where we learned that the RAILROAD CHANGED EVERYTHING (https://www.trainmuseum.org/index.php/the-railroad-changed-everything) -- talk about transitions!

 First we dressed up for a day out at Snoqualmie Falls, which had been a several-day trip until the train from Seattle made it an outing people could do in one day.

  Then we checked out the depot and boarded an old train car to learn a little about train safety (NEVER play on train tracks!)

 We designed our own bandanas, learning that the engineers wore them to keep from breathing the ashes, oil, and coal they burned to power the steam engines.

 And then, of course, we took a leisurely ride, enjoying the beautiful afternoon and a breathtaking view down from the top of Snoqualmie Falls. This was a different and interesting perspective!

 My parents even joined us for this trip -- they LOVED meeting the Navigators and Pioneers -- and the conductor, who shared a wealth of information about the train and museum.

Overall, we learned that the Transcontinental Railroad was a HUGE transition, and that the trains here in the Northwest carried a LOT of lumber that helped to build up all this new stations, cities and industries along the way. Our studies of American history this year have truly been an incredible journey!