TRINIDAD, COLO., -- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff from several District project offices participated in the Third Annual Trinidad Water Festival.
Approximately 1,700 Las Animas County students and teachers turned out for the event that focused on educating the students on water’s importance as well as local and regional water issues.
The students participated in 38 presentations outside their normal classrooms, Thursday, May 15, 2014. Presentation topics included water safety, how the water at the local pool is made safe and how to use and drink water responsibly.
The District staff from Trinidad Dam manned a station on dams titled “Dam Building 101.” 180 students and teachers visited where they learned about dams; including how and why they are built. Additionally, they received water safety information and give-a-ways before they left.
Karl Martin, chief of the District’s Lakes and Assets Branch said the festival was an “outstanding team effort with staff from John Martin and Abiquiu joining forces with Trinidad to do another outstanding job of promoting a positive USACE message to the communities we serve.”
In addition to the Trinidad staff, Karen Downey, operations manager at John Martin Reservoir in Southeastern Colorado; Nicholas Bailey, park ranger at Abiquiu Lake; and Jesse Gutierrez, maintenance worker at Trinidad Dam helped out with the presentation. Gutierrez, John Hoffman and Rick Torres, maintenance workers at Trinidad, helped with logistics such as setting up for the presentation. Bernadine Cisneros, maintenance control technician in the District’s Lakes and Assets Branch, took photos of the event and the water safety information was organized by Robin Henry, a project technician in the District’s Operation’s Division.
“This really centers around our young students, educating them and the environment around them. The students here today are really being educated and shown how water affects them, this is way more than science,” said Tom Perry, festival organizer and volunteer.