Story and Photos By Margarita Cambest
USAG Stuttgart Public Affairs
Stuttgart Elementary School third graders got a chance to learn all about the water cycle at a special trip to the Münster Waterworks this school year.
Wasserwerks water treatment facility and teaching museum in Stuttgart. Photo by Margarita Cambest, USAG Stuttgart Public Affairs
On a typical year, more than 2,000 school children come through the doors of the water treatment facility and teaching museum in Stuttgart. The field trip, a first of its kind for military affiliated kids from U.S Army Garrison Stuttgart, has been a right of passage since 2009 for students who attend local host nation schools. Netze BW Wasser staff work with children to engage them in hands-on learning that teaches life lessons they can bring home to their families, says Bettina Reutter, the facility’s public relations manager. The company is responsible for the distribution of drinking water throughout the entire Stuttgart metropolitan area, as well as monitoring and quality testing of the drinking supply.
“Our people make sure the water is secured and controlled, but we want to tell the kids the story of water and how it gets into their glass,” Reutter said.
Through a tour of the teaching facility, students learn how the water cycle works, why it’s important, and leave with a greater understanding of how to protect our limited natural resources, she said.
After a tour, students went on to learn about the process of getting clean water into their homes through a science experiment led by a Netze BV staff member.
First up, a filtration experiment where students removed sediment from brown, brackish water by straining it. While the water got a little clearer it was still an unappealing shade of brown so students used 10 drops of water purification solution to clean it up some more. When asked if anyone would drink the water at that point the answer was a resounding “no” but there was still work to be done.
From there, a second filtration with cotton and pea gravel helped remove smaller impurities before a final filtration with activated charcoal led to something that looks much closer to what most of the students said they expect of clean drinking water.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for our students to come here and learn about the entire process of filtering water from nature to tap,” says Krista Nightwine, a third-grade teacher at Stuttgart Elementary School who accompanied her students on the school’s second trip to the facility. “The staff worked so well with the students in engaging them on hands-on learning and that later ties into the education they’re getting in the classroom.”