CPW, Students Celebrate Public Works Week in Concord

For the seventh year, Concord Public Works and eighth-graders from Concord Middle School joined together to celebrate Public Works Week with a special event, held Wednesday, May 22.

This year's theme was "Because of Public Works ..." and CPW staff orchestrated a host of activities and events to showcase the theme, according to an event summary provided by Anna Trout, administrative and special projects coordinator for CPW.

Those events included:

• Stormwater System Maintenance – The Highway Division conducted a session including a catch basin and drain line cleaning demonstration.
• Stormwater and Water Quality Overview – The Engineering Division explained the importance of stormwater management while including some fun activities for the students.
• Hazardous Waste Disposal – The Administrative Division, led by Rod Robison, entertained the students with an educational skit which pointed out how environmentally friendly products can replace hazardous ones.  This session ended with two teams responding to a quiz.
• Stormwater Pollution Prevention Videos - Students created short public service announcements demonstrating how to prevent stormwater pollution. The videos were judged by CPW Director Richard Reine, Town Manager Chris Whelan, Public Works Commissioner Arthur Fulman, Selectman Carmin Reiss and OARS Executive Director Alison Field-Juma. Two videos tied for first place, which you can see above.
• Wastewater Treatment Plant – A tour of the plant was conducted by the Water & Sewer Division, led by CPW Engineer Hardik Ravel. Melissa Simoncini, senior environmental and regulatory coordinator, and Alex Rooney, environmental and regulatory coordinator, led a lively water conservation exercise.
• Best Management Practice for Turf Grass - Grounds Operations Supervisor and Tree Warden Peter Flynn, along with his staff, conducted a session at Emerson Field, where the students learned about irrigation systems and performed hands on Ph testing of the soil.

Trout and the CPW team spent months in preparation for this event in coordination with Doug Shattuck, the Applied Technology teacher at CMS.  Planning begins once again for the next year as soon as the event concludes, according to Trout.

More from the summary:

Richard Reine, the director of public works, thanked all who made the day a success, as the group assembled for a group photo. He acknowledged that this event was made possible by the hard work of the public works staff, who spent a great deal of time and effort to prepare for this event. Everyone agreed that this year’s event was the best yet. This was a great opportunity to show students what goes on “behind the scenes” and demonstrated how they can have a positive effect on the environment. 

Wayne Busa, transportation manager for the Concord Public Schools, coordinated the four buses that brought the students to three different locations throughout the day, which made things run smoothly.