The Regional Water Quality Control Plant (RWQCP) is owned and operated by the City of Palo Alto or CITY to provide wastewater treatment for East Palo Alto Sanitary District, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Stanford. The School Outreach Programs satisfy the CITY’s stormwater and wastewater discharge permit requirements to provide outreach to school-age children about the importance of reducing or eliminating pollutants entering the sanitary sewer and storm drain systems. They also help the CITY achieve its long-term goals of water pollution prevention by educating youth and inspiring environmental stewardship. The School Outreach Programs are managed by the CITY’s Watershed Protection group and include both elementary and middle school lessons. Elementary school programs are delivered by the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo. The CITY is seeking a third-party contractor or CONSULTANT to deliver the RWQCP Middle School Outreach Program, which was established in 2000. The CONSULTANT will provide in-class school lessons in the RWQCP service area along with marketing, scheduling, tracking, evaluation, and reporting to ensure the success of the program. This program currently provides one seventh-grade program, called Microbes in Sewage. This hands-on microscope lab teaches about the wastewater treatment process and protecting the San Francisco Bay through pollution prevention. For an overview of the treatment process at the RWQCP, view this wastewater treatment video. Prior to the Covid pandemic, the Middle School Outreach Program served approximately 76 classrooms and 2,100 students. During online learning in School Year 2020-21, the lesson was offered virtually and served less than half as many students. The program has been paused since 2021. The popular program historically received a consistent rating of 4.8 out of 5 for content and quality of teachers
