Welly good time at Coniston Waste Water Treatment Works

Coniston Primary School pupils donned wellies, high vis jackets, protective gloves, and hard hats for a VIP tour of their local wastewater treatment works.

The 26 youngsters, (aged between 8 and 11) met a team from United Utilities at the plant – including River Rangers who are responsible for regular testing of streams and lakes and keeping the waterways tidy. The youngsters were able to see for themselves how used water is processed from around 1,500 local people in the town each day, rising to 10,000 during the high season.

Despite the rain, the classmates also enjoyed taking part in a fascinating facts and figures interactive quiz which tested their local knowledge and the importance of the Lake District as a leisure destination for heritage and tourism. Then, the children built models out of LEGO® depicting a lake and the water treatment works, and other things that can be found around a lake including factories, farms, camp sites, traffic and wildlife.

Teacher, Nicola Blackburn said: ‘The United Utilities team showed us the different stages of the treatment process to explain how the used water that arrives is the colour of coffee and leaves looking crystal clear. It is so important that we teach the water customers of the future how to look after this valuable resource in our homes.’

Richard Peacock, Production Manager from United Utilities who conducted the tour said, ‘This was the first time we have organised a trip like this at Coniston for school children. The group from Coniston Primary School were very well behaved and asked lots of sensible questions. They also gave us some useful feedback for how we could develop more ‘see for yourself’ tours like this in the future.’