Philly’s Water Department is hosting an open house at Queen Lane treatment plant and asking for resumes for jobs

Want to visit the Queen Lane Water Treatment Plant in East Falls?

The Philadelphia Water Department is having an open house, tour, and career fair at its Queen Lane facility from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, at 3565 Fox St. Visitors must register for the event and bring a government-issued identification.

The plant treats about 70 million gallons of water a day, according to Philly Watersheds. It uses water from the Schuylkill that is treated to become drinking water. The tour is pretty much booked up, but people can take part in watching demonstrations and leave resumes.

“It’s always fascinating how interested people are in learning what goes on behind the curtains of this whole campus that does the work to transform the water into clean water,“ said Brian Rademaekers, a water department spokesperson.

Part of the demonstration on Saturday will show how mussels clean water by filtering it, and removing tiny particles that help clear the water of pollutants, sediment, and excess nutrients.

» READ MORE: These Philly high school kids are trying to clean up the Schuylkill. With mussels.

In addition to having a chance to learn about the water system, Rademaekers said there will also be a career fair where people can drop off resumes for jobs. However, there will be no job interviews.

The Water Department is looking for people in a variety of fields: graduate civil and environmental engineers, machinery and equipment mechanics, HVAC mechanics, machinists, roofers, plumbers, laborers, helpers, and more.

Rademaekers said it also hires young people through PowerCorpsPHL, which says on its website that it “engages un- and under-employed 18- to 30-year-olds in an immersive, paid 4- to 24-month experience that results in connection to living wage jobs in clean energy, green infrastructure, and community-based careers.”

» READ MORE: Queen Lane water plant is slated for rebuilding; East Falls group wants a promise ‘it won’t look like a prison’

Coincidentally, this open house is being held during the same week that the East Falls Community Council held a neighborhood happy hour on Wednesday evening to discuss long-term plans to demolish and reconstruct the plant, which was built in 1895.

Paul Elia, a member of the EFCC, said there was a good turnout. More residents signed a petition asking the city for a binding agreement of protections when it rebuilds the treatment plant. They want to make sure there is no barbed-wire fencing, glaring lights that shine into homes, noisy generators, and parking lots without adequate landscaping and screening.

Rademaekers said visitors to the plant will also learn more about the city’s water revitalization plan, which is a plan for upgrading the water infrastructure at facilities around the city.

“We have six different treatment plants, three for drinking water and three for wastewater,” Rademaekers said. The department tries to have open houses at its water facilities at least twice a year, he said. The last open house was at the Belmont Treatment Plant in West Philadelphia, near City Avenue.