See How Havre de Grace Gets Water At Behind-The-Scenes Open House

HAVRE DE GRACE, MD — Have you ever wondered what happens to water in Havre de Grace? This weekend is your chance to find out how the water treatment process works. The city invites people to visit the wastewater and water treatment plants during a public open house Saturday, Dec. 14.

"We would ask that you come definitely visit and see how water is made and how sewage is treated," Director of Public Works Tim Whittie said.

"It's a very interesting process when you see the raw water coming in and what the final product is," Whittie said during the Nov. 18 Havre de Grace City Council meeting, where he made an announcement about the event. "It's just pretty amazing the technology that goes in to clean our water."

Mayor William Martin encouraged people to check out the process as well. He described the wastewater treatment plant as "state-of-the-art" and "one of the best on the Chesapeake Bay."

Explaining what happens at the Havre de Grace Water Treatment Plant, the mayor said: "We just take fresh water from the river, and we make it into drinking water."

Then at the Havre de Grace Wastewater Treatment Plant, he said: "We take it as sewage, and we put it back into the bay."

The wastewater treatment plant "takes whatever you flush down your toilet and your sinks, and — I say this but it's really true — you can drink it if you really had to. You wouldn't get sick. That water that goes back into the bay is completely cleaned into fresh water."

Said Martin: "The wastewater treatment plant is amazing."

He billed the open house Saturday as a family friendly event.

"We really encourage you to bring your family," Martin said. "If you're looking for something cool to do for an hour, maybe two ... Nothing like showing a kid how stuff works. They love that stuff."

Added Martin: "I think it would give everyone an appreciation to find out how we take the water from the river, and we process it. And it's really done the old-fashioned way just through sand and charcoal and natural filtration processes with a few little modern-day additives helping us."

There will be tours of the Havre de Grace Water Treatment Plant at 415 Saint John Street and Wastewater Treatment Plant at 1 Jerry Foster Way.

The open house is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14.

"Either hit the water plant, which is across the street from Coakley's on St. John Street, or go to our wastewater treatment plant, which you'll never find," Martin joked at the council meeting.

He advised people to take Seneca Avenue and make a right on Wilson Street to get to the wastewater treatment plant, which is near the National Guard.

"Keep following it over and over again, like the Legend of Zelda," he said, referencing the Nintendo game that required a character to follow clues to get to a destination. "It's back there on Wilson Street. You'll find it. There will be a lot of signs directing people to the wastewater treatment plant."