New Executive Director Goes Underground with Kids Connect
It’s been a great first couple of weeks on the job! What a treat to visit some of our Water Trail sites, connect with fellow friends of the river, and see some of our initiatives in action.
A highlight was my outing with the Refugee and Immigrant Connection (RICS) Kids Connect program. See photo album.
Perhaps it’s my background in education or nostalgia for when my children were little, but tagging along with the kids’ latest field trip to the City’s Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) tank at Spokane Falls reminded me why it’s so important to learn about the extraordinary efforts being made to keep our river clean and flowing.
With a Washington Department of Ecology grant, the Forum is helping refugees and other underserved communities learn the importance of waste reduction, recycling, food rescue, and composting to environmental protection.
In August, two separate groups of RICS Kids received a special tour of the City’s 2.2-million-gallon Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) tank at Spokane Falls. From the plaza and river views above, underground we went to see how dangerous pollutants from excess stormwater runoff are captured, then piped safely to the City’s Riverside State Park Water Reclamation Facility for treatment before being released into the Spokane River.
Since the 1980s, approximately 85% of Spokane’s combined sewer overflow systems have been replaced with separate stormwater systems, but more than 400 miles of combined sewers remain in Spokane, predominantly on the south side. Because the remaining combined sewers are in areas not easily separated and the goal is to have them not discharge pollutants to the river, the city built 20 underground storage tanks with a capacity to hold millions of gallons of pollutant laden stormwater.
Our underground adventure took us to the largest tank in the system, which was completed in August 2020. It was fascinating to listen to kids new to our country ask questions about how this feat of engineering operates. Thank you to the city staff for providing the tour!
Next stop for the Forum and Kids Connect, the City’s Riverside State Park Water Reclamation Facility. Stay tuned.