Industrial Water Use at Flex-N-Gate Inc.

Urbana Middle School, Urbana, IL

Through a video tour of the production line and a visit from Derrick Greer the water waste operator at Guardian West Inc., UMS WaterWorks students learned how water is used and treated to produce bumpers for trucks at Flex-N-Gate Inc. Water is key to their production process and their daily use exceeds 3 million gallons per day. Before the water can be returned to the community it is necessary to clean it up and remove dissolved metals and other contaminants. Mr. Greer came to the UMS Waterworks classroom to discuss industrial water use and to demonstrate how metals are removed from water prior to disposal into the sewers. Students were amazed as dissolved metals precipitated out of the water right before their eyes. Mr. Greer also took the time to discuss with the class the importance of a good education and the path he took to get his current job.

(Left) Derrick Greer discusses industrial water treatment with the students; (Right) Contaminated water left over after the chrome plating process

(Left) Metals beginning to precipitate out of solution; (Right) Metal particles sinking to the bottom half of the beaker