This morning Susan Miller and I went to visit the Baldwin Water Works which were open to the public, along with Crown Waterworks on the West side, in honor of National Water Week. Our enthusiastic guide was Edwin Guasp, the Chief of Laboratories for Cleveland’s Water Division. Our group included a couple from Shaker Hts and later we were joined by a father and daughter (12?) from Brunswick.
We learned a lot of details…e.g. there are four intakes but only one of them, (the Kirtland Crib out in the harbor) that brings water to the Baldwin plant, is visible above the lake. This particular intake is the one we see off the breakwater. It now sports the tower that has anemometers and once was the seasonal home of the bell keepers whose job it was to ring a bell during storms and fogs and whenever a boat was known to be in the vicinity. This bell now stands near the main entrance of the Baldwin Plant. Our guide said it was made in 1898 even though the plaque says 1900.
I t seems that all the Water Works have been closed to visitors since 911. We learned that chlorine gas has been replaced by liquid sodium hypo chlorite as a disinfectant because it is much less volatile in a spill.
As I walked home I reflected that although we talk of the dangers of terrorism…THE BIGGEST THREAT TO OUR WATER RIGHT NOW IS US. At the end of the tour groups were taken to see a video produced by EPA and the Weather Channel. It was informative, showing the numerous serious degrading affects that people have perpetrated on the world’s water systems.
Helpfully, it did not just enumerate problems without suggesting positive actions that can be taken by average citizens. My kids regularly are given extra credit opportunities – go see the Jane Austin movie, go to this book reading/signing and so on. We would all benefit if our kids were assigned to watch this movie. They might just learn how to define watershed and realize that every time Chem-Lawn comes to your neighborhood, chemicals that don’t have time to be absorbed by the greenery will be heading via water from a sprinkler or the clouds into your watershed and quite possibly into your drinking water. Carwash soap, blacktop seal-coat, and pet waste left lying follow the same route.
The Division of Water deserves praise for putting together an informative visit that not only offered details about how our water is made potable but also made suggestions on what it means to be a responsible citizen of a watershed.