Families learn about wastewater at South Platte Renew water festival

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

When most kids hear “wastewater,” they don’t think of fun.

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. Coowned 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

On the southern edge of the lake, a small boat carried large structures made of holiday wreaths, PVC pipes and cinder blocks. When the boat’s sonar alerted the driver that he was at the edge of a dropoff, he and his colleagues pushed the structures off the boat and into the water.

From shore, Bob Keyser watched the objects, which he had spent hours building a few days prior, descend into the water.

With other members of Littleton Elks Lodge and the Colorado Elks Association Veterans Committees, Keyser built the structures to recycle wreaths that had been used to decorate Veterans’ gravesites during the holiday season.

Instead of throwing them away, the Elks gave the wreaths a new life as fish habitats.

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