Reservoir and Open Day - the story of the sewage geyser

🚿 Reservoir and Open Day - don't combine the two

The idea was simple: environmental education in practice. To show young people how the treatment plant works. Make them realize that the water from their tap goes back somewhere someday. Five classes came - elementary school. a total of 112 children, 8 teachers, 3 guides and two people from the municipality with a camera.

Everything was prepared. Helmets, vests, safe-passage lines. Even banners: "Clean water begins with awareness".. Except that no one has checked one detail: valve in the retention tank.

⏰ 10:02 a.m. - children set, let's go!

The first group enters the settlement area. Laughs, sounds of children, someone asks if it is possible to drown in the sewage. Suddenly... a strange sound. As if someone was trying to boil soup in a washing machine. And then: "ALARM - EXCESS EFFLUENT".. And the siren.

The employee runs to the desktop. The cameras show - the level is rising in the retention tank. The drain valve is getting jams. The sewage is receding. It overflows. Foam flies through the emergency overflow like whipped cappuccino through an unattended espresso machine.

🎠 10:07 - geyser

Foam flows out through the service grate. The fountain reaches one and a half meters. The first teacher takes a step back. The children scream. A camera from the municipality captures everything. No one knows if it's part of a show or a disaster.

- Ladies, is this a show or a breakdown? - Eco special effect," replies someone with a nervous smile.

After 3 minutes, the valve starts. The alarm goes quiet. The foam disappears slowly, but the memories remain. The children call the event a "foam geyser." A video appears on TikTok with the caption: "Wastewater also has emotions."

🧠 What really happened?

The retention valve has not been checked for 6 months. The last test passed with minimal flow. But the night before the Open Day, heavy rains fell - the tank was almost full. The level sensor worked. The valve did not open.

Fortunately, the effluent was already after pre-treatment. There were no health risks. But media-wise? It could have been played better.

📌 The moral - and it's threefold:

📅 Every demonstration at a technology facility is a high-risk operation.
🔍 If you haven't tested something for six months - count on the fact that it will fall exactly when you have 40 children in the area.
🎥 And if anyone has a camera, everything will become viral faster than you collect a mop.

💬 Did you like the story?

Share it with friends in the industry or local government officials planning tours of the facilities - maybe you'll save them from a foam tsunami. Watch us on Facebook i LinkedIn.