Free guided tours of the award-winning P.L. Brunner Water Pollution Control Plant are being offered Saturday, June 8, 2019, from 10:00 a.m. to noon, with the last tour starting at 11:30 a.m.

Visitors will learn about the process of wastewater treatment, the role bugs play in that treatment and will catch a glance of those bugs on the plant’s high powered EVOS XL microscope. See attached photos for bug images viewed in our microscope.

Tour attendees can park across the street at 2601 Dwenger Avenue and enter the main front door of the plant’s original building. The tour looks at the high-tech automated portions of the plant as well as the lab, and the area that generates power from waste. The plant began operating in 1940 and has had several updates through the years.

The facility can treat 100 million gallons of sewage per day and serves more than 315,000 area residents in Fort Wayne, New Haven, Leo-Cedarville, Maysville, Grabill, Zanesville, Arcola and many homes and businesses in unincorporated areas of Allen County.

Recent Water Pollution Control Plant awards:

• 2018 Utility of the Future Today – Energy Generation and Recovery, sponsors — National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), the Water Environment Federation (WEF), the Water Research Foundation (WRF) and the WateReuse Association, with input from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• 2017 and 2018 Residuals and Biosolids Excellence in Operating a Large Facility, sponsor – Indiana Water Environment Association (IWEA)

• 2017 and 2018 Laboratory Excellence Award, sponsor – Indiana Water Environment Association (IWEA)

• 2017 and 2018 Excellence in Safety Award, sponsor – Indiana Water Environment Association (IWEA)

• 2017 Gold Peak Performance Award (received in 2018 as they award in the summer after annual data is available) sponsor – National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA)

• 2016 Silver Peak Performance Award (received in 2017 as they award in the summer after annual data is available) sponsor – National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA)