It’s February and the sun is setting on Idaho’s largest wastewater facility, but love is in the air. Couples walk across brown, bubbling pits wearing khakis, dresses and hard hats.
It’s Valentine’s Day and roughly three dozen Idahoans are attending “Love at First Flush.” It’s an event at West Boise Water Renewal Facility, a treatment plant that turns sewage into compost and water clean enough to drink.
An industrial lift is covered with heart-shaped streamers and the couples line up on a balcony for an outdoor photo op. They hold up toilet lids to their face for selfies.
For Sondra Chadd and her husband Aaron, this isn’t an odd place for a romantic evening.
“We actually toured a water treatment plant in Nampa like 15 years ago. When we were first dating,” said Sondra.
Liz Hansen says she and Cindy Davis stumbled on the event and had to swipe right.
“I was looking for classes to take through the city or events for the city, and I saw it on the calendar. I thought it would be fun,” said Liz.
This is the facility’s second annual sewer Valentine’s Day tour. The idea came from a New York wastewater facility that started the same tradition in 2012.
Arabelle Britton, Boise Wastewater educator, says the tour is more than just a cheeky event. It’s meant to show Idahoans how their utility bill helps renew wastewater and send it back out to the ecosystem.
“We are looking for different ways, sometimes quirky, fun ways to pull adults into these conversations with us,” said Britton.
Jennifer Wolf, Boise’s climate educator shows the couples how it works. She points to huge round tanks of water called clarifiers.
From there the water all goes out a pipe into the Boise River - and eventually, into Boise refrigerators.
"Our drinking water is a mixture of mostly ground water depending on the pump station, but a mixture of ground and Boise River,” said Britton.
That treated water is warmer than the average river temperature, which is about 50 degrees in the summer. Higher river temperatures in Idaho waterways can cause harmful algal blooms among other issues.
Britton says a changing climate is affecting water temperatures all over our region, and the facility is looking for solutions.
“This is a Western problem and other places as well. So, how can we cool water that's cost-effective, meets our climate goals,” said Britton.
The city is building more clarifiers. More than 200,000 people have moved to Idaho since 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Britton says that means the facility has to expand. The extra capacity will be up to 6 million more gallons of water per day.
“We can't just stop, stop treating water, water's going to keep coming. We need extra capacity so that we can be able to fix things when we need to,” said Britton.
The final tour stop before dinner: a tall torch burning in the distance.
“In the evening time, you can see it, and I think it's lovely. As lovely as methane flares can be,” said Britton.
Composting all the waste makes a byproduct: methane gas. It’s a greenhouse gas the EPA says is 28 times stronger than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
To get rid of the gas, the wastewater facility burns it through a tall torch to keep it out of the atmosphere and landfill. The constant stream of solid waste from all over the city keeps the flame burning tonight and every night.
The romantic evening ends in a conference room with a catered dinner of chicken parmesan, salad, and rolls.
As they eat, the couples say this was a night to remember.
“It was really interesting … they’re so efficient,” said Cindy Davis.
“It was quite interesting to know the process, especially the part where the water is UV'd before it goes out on the Boise River,” said Mary McGee.
“Our face is showing through a toilet seat,” said Chuck McGee.
Dessert is a chocolate fondue.
This was the second year Boise held this event. The city plans to do it again next year, so keep your eye on its Facebook and event page early next year.
