EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
PUBLIC OUTREACH
The Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District takes pride in its Educational Programs by creating partnerships and collaborate with schools and community organizations to increase knowledge and create positive changes in behavior that limit impacts on wastewater systems and the environment.
For more information about the OWOW, CWOP, SWEP or to request a copy of the curriculum and teacher materials, please contact:
Meg Herston
email: mherston@FairfieldSuisunSewer.ca.gov
707-428-9109
OUR WATER OUR WORLD (OWOW)
Learn the best less-toxic and eco-friendly gardening techniques! OWOW is a partnership between city- and county-based water pollution prevention agencies, such as Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District, garden centers and hardware stores that sell pest control products.
SOLANO STORMWATER ALLIANCE GARDENING IN A CHANGING CLIMATE
Suzanne Bontempo with Our Water Our World discusses what we as gardeners can do to prevent stress to our gardens and build resilience to withstand these major weather events.
RETAIN THE RAIN
Here in California, we are accustomed to extended periods of dry weather. Managing your garden under these conditions has challenges. Suzanne Bontempo from Our Water Our World will share tools and techniques for retaining the rain and keeping rainwater on-site, in ways that will benefit your garden. You will learn how to tap into the rain in ways that will help keep your garden more resilient, healthy, and pest free.
FALL IS FOR PLANTING 2023
Now is the perfect time for planting! Suzanne Bontempo will be sharing her expertise, regarding the basics of how to prepare your garden for planting, soil building, best fertilizers, general planting tips, and troubleshooting. This is a helpful class for entry-level gardeners, as well as those who want a refresher on fall planting techniques.
HOW TO MANAGE WEEDS SAFELY AND EFFECTIVELY
This video is presented by Suzanne Bontempo, program coordinator of Our Water Our World and facilitated by Andrea Solis with the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District and Jennifer Kaiser with Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District. Suzanne presents eco-friendly techniques for safe and effective weed management.
ECO-PEST MANAGEMENT FOR SPRING PESTS
This video is presented by Suzanne Bontempo, program coordinator of Our Water Our World and facilitated by Andrea Solis with the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District. Suzanne presents eco-friendly ways to manage common spring pests, such as weeds, mushrooms, peach leaf curl, slugs, snails, yellow jackets and others and tips on when to use pesticides.
FALL PEST PREVENTION
This is the second video of a two-part series for fall gardening by Suzanne Bontempo, program coordinator of Our Water Our World and hosted by Emily Corwin with the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District. Suzanne presents eco-friendly options to fall pest management with useful seasonal tips that are healthier for your family and better for the environment. You will learn easy techniques and tools for pest prevention for ants, rodents, raccoons, and the why & how to apply a dormant season eco-pesticide for spring pest prevention.
FALL IS FOR PLANTING
Our Water Our World (OWOW) program with instructor Suzanne Bontempo and Emily Corwin. This is the first of a two-part series for the fall, the waterwise approach to growing a healthy garden during the fall season. Learn how to setup your plants for success, the best plants to support other plant growth and complex food webs, ways to hold water, lawn substitutes, and much more.
BRING IN THE POLLINATORS
In addition to bees and butterflies, the insects, birds, and mammals that pollinate plants are vital to sustaining our food supply and ecosystems. Learn who these garden visitors are, how to create environments to attract and protect them, and see the wide variety of nectar and pollen-rich flowers you can plant in your garden to support them throughout the seasons. If you are looking to invite more pollinators to your garden, this is the program for you!
GROW YOUR OWN SALAD
Learn how to grow your own salad ingredients from scratch. This workshop will teach you how to reduce water needs for seasonal vegetable gardening and what to plant in the spring to maximize the harvest season. This class will also cover how to incorporate organic maintenance techniques, including how to use compost and cover crops.
DROUGHT PROOF GARDENING
In this workshop your will learn the basics on how to keep your garden happy and healthy using water-saving strategies in a more environmental friendly way.
SCHOOL WATER EDUCATION PROGRAM (SWEP)
The SWEP provides FREE water education resources to teach water awareness and conservation to students, teachers and parents in Solano County.
The in-class education programs as well as the resource materials and assembly programs are innovative, fun, multi-disciplinary and aligned to the content standards for California public schools for all grade levels (K-Twelve).
SWEP’s offerings encourage students and adults to develop a healthy attitude of personal responsibly toward our environment and to develop skills needed to contribute meaningfully to the decision-making process on issues involving our resources, in particular conserving our most precious natural resource, WATER.
CLEAN WATER OUTREACH PROGRAM (CWOP)
Seeking to raise the bar on environmental education, the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District (FSSD), in cooperation with educators from the UC Davis John Muir Institute of the Environment, developed the Clean Water Outreach Program (CWOP) for secondary school students.
The program’s curriculum:
- Exceeds California State Board of Education standards;
- Can be readily adopted by local educators;
- Applies chemistry, biology, and physics to real-life problems;
- Engages youth in environmental stewardship; and
- Introduces students to career opportunities in the water and wastewater industry
During a Sewer Science Lab, Fairfield High School environmental science teacher, Jill Bolduc helps two students identify an organism living in “activated sludge” from the sewer treatment plant. The full-color microscope guide is provided by FSSD to participating teachers as well as microscope slides and cover slips at no cost.
Fairfield High School students sort and count “creek critters” as indicators of water quality.
TEACHER MATERIALS
A set of teaching materials has been developed, including annotated Power Point presentations that describe the wastewater treatment process, relate the process to science standards, and provide step-by-step instructions about the classroom activities. The materials also include student worksheets, expected lab results, lab station instructions, and class posters that support the curriculum.
See Sewer Science and Curb2Creek in Action!
Click on the videos to learn more about available teachers’ materials and the high level of student participation.