Water Environmental Technology Program Teams-Up With the City of Albany to Bring Water to the Horticulture Green Houses

Students in LBCC’s Water Environmental Technology program got to see first-hand how to do vertical boring for water line installation during a class demonstration Thursday morning.

But what started out as a plan to do a practical demonstration with the City of Albany soon became a real project with a win-win for both the students and the college.

George Van Keulen, head of LBCC’s facilities grounds crew, and Ron Sharman, WET department chair, put their heads together and found a way to benefit both the students in the program while providing much needed water lines for the college's horticulture program green houses.

Van Keulen and Sharman contacted Stefan Seiter, horticulture program chair, and, along with Jeff Kinney, water systems manager with the City of Albany, they arranged to run water lines to the two green houses located in the horticulture program’s garden as part of the demonstration.

Kinney and Matt Thompson, City of Albany water supervisor, and their water distribution crew were on hand to supervise the installation, as students in the program helped to prep the site.

Holly DeRamus, WET faculty member, felt the demonstration was a huge success for both the students and the college.

“A huge thanks goes to our facilities department for providing the pipe and to the City of Albany for their teaching moment, with a happy farm left behind,” said DeRamus.

The students in the program, many of who may someday be running water lines for cities all over the country, were able to gain some real world experience on campus, while helping Seiter’s green houses to be that much more productive.