Alexandria Sanitation Authority

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia – November 28, 2011 – Forty fifth grade students, their teachers, and volunteers from the Alexandria Sanitation Authority (ASA) and engineering consulting firm CH2M Hill participated in Water Monitoring Day™ (WWMD) at Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology earlier this month.

Twelve ASA employees with three from CH2M Hill made a presentation to the students on the subjects of wastewater treatment and World Water Monitoring Day. Young people around the world sampled and analyzed water from local sources to enter the results in the WWMD database.  The purpose of the activity was to raise awareness about the importance of protecting water resources.  Given the science focus of the Cora Kelly curriculum and its location adjacent to one of ASA’s pump stations, presenting this program at Cora Kelly was a natural fit.

Before starting the monitoring activities, the students received a lesson in wastewater treatment that explained the basic chemistry, biology, and physics that go into making  wastewater safe for release back into the environment. After donning safety glasses and protective gloves, the young scientists were divided into small groups to collect water samples and use issued official WWMD monitoring kits provided by CH2M Hill. Each sample was analyzed for temperature, pH, turbidity (transparency), and dissolved oxygen content. The standards for these water quality parameters determined the health of a water environment for supporting aquatic life and suitability for human use. The students took turns conducting each test. The results from each group were averaged to determine representative values for entry in the WWMD database.

World Water Monitoring Day™ (WWMD) is an international education and outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by engaging citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies.