Virtual fieldtrip to a water treatment plant

Today the students in the Science class at HSGC went on a virtual field trip. We 'went' to a vitual aquaculture water treatment plant that had been moved to the teen grid temporarily.

Zev Paiss was our tour guide, and he showed us all the stages the water goes through before being used again. In the first stage the 'waste' water is kept in a large tank full of plants and fountains under a greenhouse (which looked very pretty). The plants used the waste products in the water to grow, feeding on the nutrients.

The plants were then harvested and put into a huge tank and converted into gas that can be used for power or cooking. The water, meantime, was filtered through more plants and sand before being safe to pipe into the ocean.

It was a fascinating look at a process I really knew nothing about. It is a shame that more places aren't using this environmentally friendly way of cleaning water.

It was a fantastic 'build' too. None of the students questioned anything about the 'virtual' nature of the event. When asked "what type of building are we in?" they all pitched in with variations of "greenhouse" answers. They asked some great questions too, and gave enthusiastic responses when Zev asked them a question.

A real success in a virtual world :-)