To help promote environmental stewardship and raise awareness of the value of water among Chicago’s youth, the Water Environment Federation’s (WEF) Students and Young Professionals Committee (SYPC) has organized the sixth annual WEF Community Service Project, “Reading, Writing & Rain Gardens.” Organized as a part of WEFTEC 2013—WEF’s 86th Annual Technical Exhibition and Conference—the event is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 5, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Chicago.
During the event, conference volunteers will replace concrete with green infrastructure on the playground at Haines Elementary School in Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood. The trees and rain garden will help relieve runoff from urban flooding and reduce heat island effect in a critical public space for students. Locating the project at a local school gives WEF the opportunity to inspire area students to the cause of clean water, underscore the importance of the water profession, and demonstrate to the community about how to get started with clean water initiatives.
Now in its sixth year, the annual WEF Community Service Project supports grassroots solutions and environmental stewardship on a local level while promoting WEF’s overall mission to preserve and enhance the global water environment. Local and WEF leadership are expected to attend the opening ceremony to share their vision for environmental protection and community involvement and service.
The service project sponsors include AECOM, Arcadis USA Inc., Black & Veatch, Brown and Caldwell, Carollo Engineers, CDM Smith, CH2M HILL, Greeley and Hansen, Hazen and Sawyer, HDR Engineering and Parsons Brinkerhoff. The service project donors include Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services, Chemtrol, Central States Water Environment Assn., Duperon Corp., Entex, FKC Screwpress, Flottweg Separation Technology Inc., HACH, Illinois Water Environment Assn., Lubrizol Advanced Materials Inc., Stantec, Vaughan Co.Inc. and Wigen Water Technologies.