Yellow busses arriving at the Clark Public Utilities Operations Center in Orchards are as much a sign of fall as maple leaves turning red and orange. With field trip season in full swing, dozens of local fourth and fifth graders descend from their school busses almost daily to explore electricity and get a behind-the-scenes look at the workings of their public utility.
While the number of school districts taking the tours bounces between eight and 10 each year, the number of students touring the utility has grown steadily in the past decade — up from 3,600 in 2006 to more than 5,200 in 2016.
The field trip includes two break-out sessions exploring the water cycle and water quality and a tour of the utility warehouse.
Then Maxie Mayer, the utility’s marketing communications coordinator, explains where electricity comes from and how it gets to homes and businesses in Clark County. She also gives a safety demonstration using an interactive “ElectriCity” display. “The importance of safety around electricity is a big emphasis of our educational efforts,” Mayer said. “If the kids leave knowing to stay away from electrical equipment and to never ever touch a power line, it’s a success.”
In a recent session on water quality and the water cycle, an AmeriCorps volunteer working with the utility’s StreamTeam leads a hands-on water table demonstration with about 20 fourth graders. Jennifer Stein’s recent master’s degree in environmental science from Alaska Pacific University gives her more than the needed background to answer all the students’ questions about how pollution gets into the water system and how we can help.
That day, the Prune Hill Elementary kids tuned in to her talk about water as a precious resource right away. Stein discovered the kids had visited Bonneville Dam the prior week and were loaded with questions and answers.
“Working with kids helps me learn how to translate technical terms and make concepts accessible at all levels,” she said. “These kids were well prepped because they’d recently visited a hydroelectric dam, and their questions showed they were building on what they’d already learned.”
With the help of the students, Stein used a neighborhood diorama to show how accidental oil spills and pollution on the ground can travel. During rainstorms, grime and waste wash first into Salmon Creek and then on to the Columbia River.
“Why do we put plants along stream and river banks?” she asks the group. “Roots clean the soil,” more than one student responds.
The fourth graders’ water education continues after the tour. All year long, these students monitor the water temperature, take samples and count wildlife around a landscaped bioswale at their school. The swale concentrates runoff and removes dirt and pollutants from water. And the concepts in the tour are designed to reinforce curriculum at the fourth- and fifth-grade level, for both electricity and water.
Walking between the yellow safety lines on the warehouse tour, Mayer stops and explains the power of electricity by showing a chunk of melted concrete caused by a downed high-voltage line. She also points out the equipment that line crews use for protection from dangerous shocks when working on power lines.
The kids see how spools of wire are stored and weighed. Then in the utility’s recycling room, they learn the utility recycles everything, including metals and wood.
On the loading dock, Mayer explains how line workers prepare for field work and adds that line work is a job for both men and women. She also points out the “Safe Watch” signs on all the utility vehicles. “If you’re ever in trouble and see this sign on a truck, city bus or county vehicle, you know the person can help you to safety,” she tells them.
Before leaving, the kids tried generating electricity using an exercise bike adapted to power a series of bulbs. The blue bulb needs 200 watts to light up. After multiple tries of furious peddling, only three of the more than 40 kids got it to flicker briefly. Making electricity isn’t easy.
Energy Adviser is written by Clark Public Utilities. Send questions to ecod@clarkpud.com or to Energy Adviser, c/o Clark Public Utilities, P.O. Box 8900, Vancouver, WA 98668.
