Saturday couldn’t have been a better day for a tour of the city’s wastewater treatment plant – sewer plant as it is commonly referred to. It was sunny, hardly a breeze and cool, everything that it wasn’t a week earlier when rain threatened and it was chilly.

But the great weather conditions on top of a multitude of other events from Little League games to the Fan Fest at the Warwick Public Library and a crafts show of Rocky Point put a crimp on attendance. As it turned out that was so much the better for Doris Sherman and Mark Deion who were the first two to show up for tours starting at 10 a.m.

“What’s the matter with people,” said Doris Sherman, who 15 minutes into the tour was looking down into a 400,000-gallon clarifier tank where a pair of mallards swam along the edge selecting objects floating from the surface. Leading  up to the tank, Sherman watched brown water gush into the plant from the line buried beneath Route 95 and then into a 1.4 million-gallon open tank where slow moving paddles mixed the mash, solids dropped to the bottom and micro organisms were introduced that consume pollutants and start the process of cleaning the wastewater.

Sherman was disappointed that more people didn’t appear to be interested on how the system works and where their tax dollars are going. That was the reason Deion took the tour, although his questions led to finances. Plant supervisor Michael Bedard pointed out the Warwick Sewer Authority doesn’t rely on taxpayer dollars to operate. Rather, it is an enterprise funded agency meaning user fees pay for the operation and its maintenance.  He and Starkey also made the point that contrary to the advertisement, disposal wipes are the nemesis for the plant. They don’t break down jamming pumps and costing thousands in repairs apart from interruptions in operations.

Those taking the tour visited the lab to view the plant workers – those micro pollutant- consuming organisms – up close and what goes into removing the phosphorous and nitrogen from the effluent before it is released into the Pawtuxet River.  They also got to see the effluent before it is released into the river. Beakers of effluent and tap water stood side by each. There wasn’t a visible difference. The authority also planned games, a scavenger hunt and prizes for the kids taking the tour. By 11:15 a few families showed up and Warwick Sewer Authority personnel who had put so much work into the event were smiling.