Water Treatment Plant

Not every field trip we go on is to do something to clean up the environment. We also go places to learn about topics presented in class. Today we went to a water treatment plant in Safford. We saw the processes that wastewater goes through before it is released back out into the environment. We also got to wear cool goggles!

Cleaning Up Roper Lake

Roper Lake is a state park here in Safford Arizona. It is a nice place to camp, fish, swim, have picnics and spend time together. I have many memories here when I was growing up. Unfortunately it is going to be shut down due to lack of funding. A lot of people are trying to help clean it up and raise money in an effort to save it. For this field trip my class drove to Roper Lake to see what we could do to help. There was a pipe that was clogged with a build up of trees and dirt so my class was assigned to remove the trees into a burn pile and spread out the dirt. Just like the erosion dam it didnt take much time at all. We cleared the trees evened out the dirt and the pipe was unclogged in no time. It was only a small thing to help with but there is not many people on staff and by us doing this for them there staff could use the time to do other things to help save Roper Lake and we once again got the satisfaction of knowing we are helping a good cause!

Erosions Dam

Me holding a rock! The Dam once it was finished!

Today we went on a Field Trip to the base of Frye Mesa to build an erosion dam. The Gila Valley is a highly eroded area and every year the environmental class builds a dam to help stop the erosion. Erosion happens when the land is overused by animals and humans. Negative effects of erosion are recieving water sedimentation, ecosystme damage, and loss of soil. We built the dam by putting big rocks in a line, as soon as we had enough we started putting small rocks on it, then we stood there and threw stones on one side until there was enough to pool up the water. With our whole class working on this it took less than an hour and it will benefit the land. Even though it is just one small dam in a small area it felt good to know that we took the time to do something in an effort to try and help!