Do you know where your toilet water goes?

Well, now we do.  Yep.  Homeschool is awesome!  Despite a little hesitancy and concern for the odors involved, we took a tour of the Parker Wastewater treatment facility on McKinley's birthday - we would have gone sooner but you have to be 5 to go on the tour. :)

It was fascinating!  I knew all the water got treated somehow but not much about the details.  We went through several different buildings, starting with the first one where all the "chunks" are screened out.  And it's not just what you're thinking - it's Barbie dolls and toys and all the other crazy things that get flushed downs toilets and thrown down manholes.  The biggest thing they'd ever seen?  A full size traffic cone.

We learned about the living "bugs" that feed on the waste and do most of the cleaning, the chemicals that are added, and where the water goes once it's properly treated.  It was a good time!  We went with our friends the Alleys, who are homeschoolers too.  Love those safety goggles!