Families learn about wastewater at South Platte Renew water festival

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

But at South Platte Renew’s water festival on June 7, which is intended to be an annual event, families got to experience the fascinating, science-driven, and yes — even fun — world of water and natural resource renewal.

South Platte Renew is the third largest water renewal facility in Colorado, cleaning nearly 20 million gallons of wastewater each day. Co-owned by the cities of Englewood and Littleton, it cleans wastewater from 300,000 residents in these cities and other communities, according to its website.

In addition to wastewater, the plant cleans and renews naturals gases and solids, giving many forms of waste new uses in the environment.

“Really what we’re trying to do here is change the perception of wastewater,” said Kacie Allard, deputy director of business services. “We’re more than just a sewage plant. We renew resources, we capture gas, we bring our biosolids and landapply them to (farms) for agricultural use.”

At the festival, kids could build models of the river table, put pipes together to watch how water travels and do science experiments.

Tours were also available for families to see the plant and learn about the many scienti c processes that happen day-to-day.

“It’s a really big facility and just getting an understanding of the entire process is really — it’s awesome,” Allard said.

When South Platte Renew cleans wastewater, the water is returned to the South Platte River, where it can be used downstream for recreational use, agricultural use or drinking water, Allard said. e wastewater cleaning process creates methane gas as a byproduct, marketing specialist Erin Bartlett said. Whereas most wastewater facilities burn o methane, which pollutes the environment, South Platte Renew instead cleans the gas and injects it into Xcel natural gas pipelines for reuse.

“ e water that we put back into the river … at certain times, makes up 60% of the ow of the South Platte River, so it’s really substantial,” she said.

Biosolids are also cleaned to create fertilizers for farms in eastern Colorado.

“So everything that comes in that people consider a waste, we renew for reuse,” Bartlett said.

Highlands Ranch father David Tuchalski said he brought his 5-year-old daughter, Grace, to the event so she could learn more about where water comes from and how it’s cleaned.

“Just the festival atmosphere and getting to tour a plant and see how the water reaches our homes is important,” he said.

On the way there, Grace told her father she thought it would be boring. But as she got her hands dirty at the river table station, Tuchalski said she was already having a great time.

Partner organizations and departments including Englewood Public Works, South Suburban Parks and Recreation District, Red Rocks Community College, Emily Gri th Technical College, the Barr Milton Watershed Association and Denver Wastewater Management also had booths at the event.

37th Annual MILE HIGH HOOK & LADDER

In Partnership with South Metro Fire Rescue

Saturday, June 17, 2023

PARADE: 9 a.m. – 10 a.m.

Littleton Blvd West through Historic Downtown Littleton

MUSTER: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Arapahoe Community College 5900 S. Santa Fe, Littleton

FREE • EDUCATIONAL • FUN!

• Firefighters & Other First Responders

• Antique & Modern Fire Rescue Apparatus

• Rescue Demonstrations

• Fire Truck Rides

• Junior Firefighter Games

• Emergency Helicopter Landing of premature death and is associated with a roughly 50% increased risk of dementia.

For young people, social isolation may impact a child’s mental health and lead to negative self-esteem and a fear of others, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“What has taught us over COVID is that we’re still people that require social interactions and that connection is so important,” Glass said. “For us, it was a no-brainer. And it was an opportunity for us to say, like, ‘How do we help solve this problem for the City of Centennial and the citizens?’”

From June 12 through June 16, the center will be open for tours between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Starting June 19, the center will start hosting programs including tness classes, esports drop-in sessions, nutrition classes and educational workshops.

Youth programs include esports, multimedia content creation

To help decide what programs the center should o er, an online survey that Centennial’s youth commission and senior commission helped design was conducted earlier this year to get residents’ feedback.

For young people, the center will initially o er programs such as a nutrition class, a mental health workshop, open hours for using the center’s “maker space,” and drop-in times for esports.

Esports refers to competitive video gaming, a eld that has quickly grown in popularity over the years. In the fall of 2022, it was sanctioned by the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA).

“Starting out this summer, we’re going to be doing some drop-in hours,” said Alex Kennedy, the senior manager of operations for the YMCA of Metro Denver. “And then for the fall, we’re gonna be doing teams for League of Legends … and then some other competitive games.” e gaming space in the center will also have a Nintendo Switch available to play Nintendo games, he said. e esports program is not just about enhancing one’s gaming abilities, though game strategy is part of it, said YMCA of Metro Denver’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Growth and Mission Kimberly Armitage.

“Our program is more about bringing the kids together for socialization as well,” Armitage said. “It’s about leadership and how you can be resilient.”

“ at’s what we do … is really help teach kids to be resilient and be able to build their whole self instead of just one part of that,” she continued.

Armitage said the City of Centennial’s youth commission helped design some of the things that the center has, such as the maker space where there is a 3D printer and a green wall for multimedia content creation.

“ ey want to learn how to do social media safely, and that really came out loud and clear in our survey,” she said. is maker space is where people can learn to use the 3D printer as well as how to create podcasts, edit videos and create other content for social media platforms, Kennedy said.

“For us, we want a place for these teens to be able to go and know that they’re going to be safe,” Armitage said.

Older adult programs feature fitness, game sessions

For older adults, the initial programs available later this June include chair yoga, art journaling, corn hole teams, an Italian-themed nutrition class and card and board games sessions.

Marydean Purves, older adults program manager for YMCA of Metro Denver, spoke of partnerships the center has with both AARP of Colorado, which will share its programs with the center, and with Arapahoe Libraries.

“Arapahoe Libraries is just down the street,” Purves said, referring to the Southglenn Library. “ e county has an older adults program and they were very interested in both having access to the population that’s going to be here and sharing their resources.” rough that partnership, the center will have a monthly book talk where someone will give short presentations on a variety of books so that people can decide what they may want to check out from the library. e center’s tness room will have three anchor programs to begin with — SilverSneakers, chair yoga and Tai Chi classes, she said.

Leading up to the center’s opening, Purves said people have been calling and asking when the center would open.

“It’s thrilling to see it all come together,” she said.

The making of the new center

When it came to creating this new center, Piko said she hatched the idea with Armitage while having lunch together a number of years ago. She has known Armitage for about 22 years, as their kids went to elementary school together.

“I’m very thrilled that we had the opportunity to build that relationship and to make it so that we can actually have our community build additional relationships by having a place where people are together,” Piko said about partnering with YMCA. “Relationships matter. Relationships is how we get things done.”

Armitage said the Centennial YMCA Center of Generations is one of the quickest projects she has ever pulled together.

“ e mayor and I started speaking about two years ago, and really about 18 months ago started working with her sta team,” she said. “I started going to senior commission meetings and youth commission meetings, and we did a survey to the community, we found a location, and it all just came together so fast and beautifully.” e construction of the location, which is more than 6,300 square feet, was done within a roughly six-week timeframe, she said.

According to the drafted collaboration agreement between Centennial and the YMCA, the city will provide $215,000 in start-up funding to help cover the cost of things like supplies, maintenance and utilities.

For the remainder of 2023 and each calendar year thereafter, the city will provide roughly $179,000 in annual support funding, per the drafted agreement. To account for in ation, this amount will be adjusted upward each year by 5%, which means the annual support funding for 2024 will be $187,950.

“Building community is what we’ve been doing for almost 150 years in Denver,” said Angela Green Urbaczewski, the YMCA of Metro Denver’s chief brand and revenue o cer. “To be able to bring that to (a) new space and have such great partners in it is just wonderful.”

‘That’s what makes a healthy community’ e celebration of the center’s opening coincided with Centennial’s District 1 summer social, an informal gathering featuring live music, local vendors and family-friendly activities.

“ is is so exciting to have the YMCA in our neighborhood,” said District 1 Councilmember Candace Moon. “ e timing is perfect.”

District 1 Councilmember Robyn Carnes expressed her excitement for the center as well, saying she has two children in middle school.

“We need a place for them to hang out — a safe place for them to hang out,” Carnes said. “We want you to think of this as, like, sort of your community center, where you can come and interact with people of various ages. at’s what makes a healthy community.”

Smart growth and healthy communities are a focus in Arapahoe County, said Commissioner Jessica CampbellSwanson.

“Honored to be here, to celebrate with you all. Excited to see this grow and thrive here, as we create opportunities for communing together — and I think that’s so important across the generations,” she said.

Sen. Chris Kolker was among the elected o cials at the event. He represents Colorado Senate District 16, which includes e Streets at SouthGlenn area.

“I might be ghting the kids for the gaming center myself, so. Glad to see that we have another opportunity for … kids and adults alike to get together,” he said. “I de nitely will be promoting this.”

Armitage said it was awesome to see all the people who came to the center’s grand opening.

“What I’d like the community to know is … this is a place where they can come and socialize, have an opportunity to meet new people, and just have a place to not be isolated,” Armitage said. “It’s just a great feeling, knowing that the Y is going to continue to create connections within communities.” ose interested in learning more about the Centennial YMCA Center of Generations can visit denverymca. org/centennial-cog.