BRIGHTON — The Public Works Department welcomed Pemayetv Emahakv Charter School students and seniors to its Brighton facility May 19 for an insider’s look at what the department does to ensure award-winning water flows through Brighton faucets.

The Brighton water treatment plant won first place in March in the Best Tasting Water Competition in Florida’s District 8, which includes six counties in Central Florida. The tours of the facility were in conjunction with National Public Works Week, started in 1960 by the American Public Works Association to educate the public on the importance of public works in daily life.

One of the purposes for the school tour was to inform the students about the variety of employment opportunities in the public works field, including jobs for scientists, engineers, heavy equipment operators and more.

“Giving students this exposure gives them the idea they can make a decent living at this,” said Brighton Councilman Andrew J. Bowers Jr. “But they still need to know how to read, write and do a little math. For those who are going to college, I’d like to see a lot of engineers, accountants, school teachers and police officers.”

As students from sixth, seventh and eighth grades toured the water treatment plant they learned bottled water isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

“You may think you are drinking water right from a spring, but all bottled water comes through a plant like this one,” said plant operations manager Juan Mata. “It isn’t regulated by the Food and Drug Administration so it can stay in a warehouse or outside for a long time. If you ever drank water that tasted like plastic it’s because the plastic leeches into the water over time.”

Mata explained the plant’s micro filtration system, which clears the water of solids such as silt and clay as well as bacteria and viruses. The students learned about the computer program that monitors the water treatment process. They also toured the emergency shower and eye wash room and saw what water looks like when it comes into the facility and how it is measured for purity before it leaves.

“This is some of the best drinking water you can have,” Joshua Niemann, water plant operator, told eighth-graders.

“We are state-of-the-art and do thorough testing to ensure the high quality. I’d put it up against any water in the country.”

Brighton has more than 60 miles of water main piping and pumps about 390,000 gallons per day of raw water from its wells. The plant produces about 120 million gallons of drinking water annually.

“We want the students to understand the importance of water and the environment,” said Public Works director Derek Koger. “The Tribe has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure and we wanted to show the seniors what we invested in and what we do for them.”

At a station simulating a water leak in a pipe, students received hands-on experience as they tried to stop the leak the same way employees do in underground pipes. The kids took turns turning the wrench to stop it, some more successfully than others.

Mata said the department is always looking for talented youth, that there is a lot of room for advancement and the starting salary is good. Blake Baker, 16, is already on board; he plans to work at the water treatment plant during the summer as part of the Education Department’s Summer Work Experience Program.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” said the eighth-grader. “I like how they keep the reservation clean.”

The solid waste division of the department is responsible for providing bulk trash pickup, recycling, hazardous waste disposal, hurricane preparedness and community maintenance. Students saw some of the division’s tools of the trade and even had the opportunity to interact with some of the heavy equipment.

Since this was an educational field trip, the students were quizzed by John Holdman, computerized maintenance management system manager. “When is the best time to water your lawn?” he asked.

The students had been listening all day and knew the right answer was early morning or evening. Other facts they knew were five gallons per minute can be saved by using a bucket of water to rinse off outside instead of letting the hose run; the average family of four uses about 400 gallons of water a day; taking a shower uses less water than a bath; and a leaky toilet is the biggest water waster in the home.

Before the students boarded the buses back to school, Councilman Bowers encouraged them to consider their future.

“If you don’t go to college, you have to learn to do something,” he said. “If I had it to do over again, I’d be a heavy equipment operator today. Work like this is a job you can come to every day and get a paycheck; it’s steady work.”

The Big Cypress Reservation opened their water plant to Ahfachkee students, who toured it May 24.