On July 2nd, an eco-passionate team composed of APU students and professors conducted a field study trip to the Central Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) of Beppu Municipality. This trip was led by Prof. Li, Prof. Qian and Prof. Mahichi with their seminar students and the IMAT students from 1:30 to 4:00 in the afternoon.

Moderated by Prof. Qian, this event commenced by a comprehensive lecture by the chief staff of WWTP in Japanese, then translated into English for the conveniences of bilingual nature of team APU. A series of interesting questions covering various topics were seen at the Q&A section that followed, from waste water pollutants to the financial status of its operations.

After the lecture, the APU team visited different units of the WWTP facilities including central monitoring and controlling room, sewage sludge unit, sedimentation tanks, waste water pumps, discharge channels amongst others. Each section of the visit accompanied curiosities and inspirations from the questions and answers between the students and staff.

This event was successfully concluded with the group picture taken at the open court of the discharge channel next to the Beppu Bay. Our utmost appreciations go to the WWTP staff, our professors and students who made this trip educational, entertaining and unforgettable.

Written by ZOU, Xiaolong (Edison), PhD Student.