Flint Teachers visit U.P. to learn about good water quality

HOUGHTON — No one knows the importance of having good water quality better than the people of Flint.

Michigan Tech is hosting a group of 13 teachers from the Flint area for a 4-day course at the Great Lakes Research Center in Houghton. The program is funded by General Motors and focuses on three specific areas: the Flint River Watershed, drinking Water Treatment, and Wastewater Treatment. The teachers will then take what they learn here and share it with their own students.

Freeman Elementary 6th Grade Teacher Jacquie Richardson said, “this will help me with these activities I’m learning here to show them—to have them demonstrate and learn on their own—how that tiny drop of water in the Flint River ends up here in the Great Lakes.”

Flint’s population continues to try and recover from their water crisis and these lessons will help deal with those lingering issues. Hamaday Middle School Science Teacher Arleatha Bryant said, “I’ve had at least seven children tell me they were tested positive for lead, and so we’ve been doing a lot of research on different foods you can eat and things you can do to try and alleviate some of the issues that may occur with this situation.”

And most importantly to educate people so such a situation doesn’t happen again. MTU Civil & Environmental Engineering Professor Martin Auer said, “These are the people that are going to change the lives that need to get this work done over the next several decades. If we can reach these teachers, then we can stimulate a process that’s going to engage the young people and that’s where the future is.”

The teachers will head back to Flint on Friday.