The Manzanita Elementary School students created their own water filters out of natural resources, toured the District’s main headquarters, and met a panel of water professionals, who discussed their roles at PWD and shared the importance of water.
“The activity got students to imagine they had no clean drinking water,” Water-Use Efficiency Specialist Robert Rosati said. “They had to brainstorm what they would need to produce clean water out of natural resources with guidance from PWD staff. It was nice to see the group think critically about clean water.”
The water filtration bottle activity taught the students how to make their own emergency water filtration system out of sand, gravel and cotton. It also demonstrated how water naturally filters in the underground aquifers to create an additional local water resource.
“It was very informative about where we get our water from and how it is treated,” said Jerry Figueroa, a Manzanita teacher. “If there was an earthquake, the kids would have an idea on how to (filter) the water.”
During their visit, students learned about a wide range of water industry careers from PWD Electrical/ Instrumentation Lead Tech Dennis Trujillo; Resource and Analytics Supervisor Claudia Bolanos; Service Worker Timmy Clifford; Field Customer Care Rep Chad Klein; Plant Operator Erik Gustafson; IT Specialist Bennett Yates; GIS Coordinator Richard Heinonen; and Lab Analyst Anthony Myrick.
Imagine a Day Without Water is a national effort to raise awareness, educate communities and call for action to invest in the nation’s water infrastructure. PWD is one of more than 1,000 participants, including other water utilities, civic leaders, educators and businesses, taking part in the campaign’s fifth year.
For more information about PWD, visit www.palmdalewater.org.
[Information via news release from the Palmdale Water District.]
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