Scouts get up-close look at waterworks

• Photo: Girl Scouts

Sixty girls toured the city's water facilities Aug. 23.

Talk about it

When students go back to school next week they will have all sorts of stories to share about the things they did over the summer. For a group of Rosemount Girl Scouts, the fact they got to go into the city’s largest water tower might come up.

A group of about 60 girls took the opportunity to learn about the city’s water system on Aug. 23. The girls got a tour of the water tower and a well house and listened to a presentation by city staff.

The girls seemed to enjoy it. Rachel Leholm said she liked going into the water tower and the fact that she got dripped on.

“I love getting wet,” said Leholm.

Even the presentation went over well. Christine Watson, the city’s public works coordinator, presented the information and got some ooohs and aaaahs.

“Nobody thinks about water. You just turn on your water taps and it’s there,” said Watson. But she explained there’s a lot more to it.

The city has four water towers and eight wells. Underneath the city there are 122 miles of water mains. The city has 6,400 customers who consume on average 2.3 million gallons of water a day.

Watson told the girls that if they drink their eight glasses of water a day for a year from the tap it will cost their parents .20 cents. Whereas, if they drink that in bottled water from the store, it would cost $500 a year. That little nugget of information actually inspired a reaction.

“Yes it’s cheap but we still want to conserve,” Watson told the girls.

Rosemount gets its water from the Jordan Aquifer, explained assistant city engineer Phil Olson. Olson said the aquifer is a good, clean water source that supplies water to Rosemount and a number of other communities.

The afternoon of learning is a prelude to a Take Action Project the girls will take part in as part of Girl Scouts’ 100th Anniversary, said leader Mary Owens

Owen said she was grateful the city put on the event and helped plan the project.

“Not many people ever get to go into a water tower,” said Owens.

Through their Take Action Project, Owens said they hope to make a difference in the community. On Oct. 13 the girls will clean debris from storm drains and put up signs to encourage residents to keep the drains clean.

What’s more, the Girl Scouts will distribute literature in the community to raise awareness about ways to keep water clean.

The door hangers explain that when leaves, grass and pet waste aren’t properly taken care of, they flow into storm drains and into the waterways. The organic waste releases phosphorus, which feeds algae and depletes oxygen in the water, making it difficult for wildlife to survive. Through their project Owen said they hope to help people understand the significance of keeping storm drains clean.

Girls Scouts all over America will do projects that day and this is Rosemount’s chosen project.

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