Volunteers to make sandbags needed; conserve water this weekend

GRCC often partners with WMEAC and the City of Grand Rapids in sustainable community development initiatives. We have an opportunity to join them in flood protection efforts this weekend. They are seeking volunteers to help make sandbags for the Grand Rapids wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to prepare for the rain and rising water this weekend. If the WWTP were to flood it would have a significant negative environmental and financial impact on our community. If you are interested in volunteering today, or being added to a list of standby volunteers for the rest of the weekend, please sign up here: http://bit.ly/176o0UH

Daniel Schoonmaker, of WMEAC Member Services, acknowledges that flooding is imminent in many areas of our community. “Though it may sound odd that we’d encourage water conservation during a flood, you can reduce the volumes of water within our sanitary sewer system by using less water,” says Schoonmaker. “Regardless of the WWTP situation, the Market Avenue Retention Basin is currently jettisoning partially treated overflows into the Grand River, so any reduction in sewer volumes would be helpful at this point.”