Underground with Urbana Public Works

Urbana Middle School, Urbana, IL

Urbana Public Works visited the UMS WaterWorks class at Urbana Middle School to teach them about storm water collection. The visit was conducted by Brad Bennett, a civil engineer that works for the public works department. Brad presented a short presentation on the collection of storm water and its final destination. He then discussed how overland runoff becomes polluted with ordinary household items like oil, soaps, fertilizer, pet waste, trash, etc. Following the presentation, Brad took the class outside to see how the UPW department maintains the storm sewers. Students saw a robotic "crawler" in action as it crawled into the storm pipes to check for clogs and leaks using small cameras linked to the van at the surface. Students also saw a clog busting jet in action as it used high pressure water to clean the inside of the pipe.

(Left) Brad Bennett demonstrates how storm water is polluted; (Right) Students listen to Brad's presentation about water quality

(Left) Students have a look in the storm sewers outside of UMS (note the robotic "crawler" next to the manhole); (Right) The robotic crawler enters the storm sewer

(Left) Students have a look at the control room and monitors displaying the video from the crawler; (Right) At the other end of the pipe, students see a clog busting jet in action