On October 29th, Ms. Boehm’s AP Environmental Science class took a trip to the waste water treatment plant in Patterson, NY, for the purpose of looking at the processes of treating waste water – any water that is used by the town. While there, the students saw the primary treatment facility where all solid waste is filtered out using a screen filter that removes anything unwanted in the water. Then, that water is sent to the secondary treatment facility, on grounds, where the workers use bacteria to biodically break down the smaller particles of waste, and that bacteria eats the sludge. The goal was to see how waste water is treated, gaining an appreciation of how our earth is a closed system, and we need to conserve our resources.