As a volunteer presenter, Clarkson University Assistant Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Siwen Wang recently developed a drinking water treatment course for SOAR North Country, a local “third age” learning group. The course was presented to members of SOAR on Sept. 26 at SUNY Potsdam’s Maxcy Hall.
Aiming to promote public awareness of water, sanitation, and hygiene, the course introduced the goals and history of water treatment, water sources and characteristics, regulations and treatment processes. Wang and a Ph.D. student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Clarkson University, Yunqiao Guan, also developed a demonstration for a conventional water treatment flow diagram, including coagulation/flocculation, sedimentation, granular media filtration, and disinfection.
The demonstration showed clear differences in the water quality before and after treatment, and also visualized the chemical reaction that happens in the coagulation/flocculation process.
SOAR is a member-directed learning group, sponsored locally by SUNY Potsdam. SOAR is also one of almost 400 such lifelong learning groups affiliated with Road Scholar. The 400+ members of SOAR are “third age” adults, post-family and career people who are actively enjoying their lives. According to Wang, the group to whom she presented was engaged and inquisitive.
“They were most interested in what water characteristics are related to water safety and what are just related to water quality, such as taste. They were also interested in what they can use to secure their water safety if their water supply is not from the community water treatment facility and how they can improve their water quality,” Wang said of the interactions she had with SOAR members at the presentation. “They also asked questions about the key unit in the water treatment process, coagulation, since it is hard to understand or imagine what kind of reaction it is to make the water clearer.”
Wang had previously worked with the late Jim Barry, former co-chair of the curriculum committee of SOAR. Presenting to older community members presented a unique opportunity, she said.
“I was told by (Barry) that SOAR’s members are a group of ‘third-age’ people who are mostly retired, however, eager for life-long learning. And it is true,” Wang said. “They are curious, enthusiastic, full of life experience, and willing to learn professional knowledge from the presenters. When the professors in academia think about outreach, we usually only think of K12 kids and young people. The senior people in our community are sometimes overseen for education. SOAR is a great organization that provides opportunities for them to learn and to be seen.”
Wang said she hopes her presentation offered SOAR members basic ideas about the primary goals for water treatment, like public health and safety.
“I hope they are aware of what water characteristics are regulated by EPA and that the households who use their private wells as water supply actually need to be responsible for the water safety by themselves,” she said. “At last, I hope they got to know what kind of commercially available point-of-use products they can purchase to either ensure their water safety or improve the water quality.”
