ICC is going with the flow at Science & Engineering Festival.

SHARE

ICC-sponsored display designed by ICC Member Carroll "Chip" Matthews, founder of Integrated Cross Connection Partners, LLC, for the USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C., which visually details how backflow and back-siphonage occurs.

More than 350,000 attendees will have the opportunity to view an ICC-sponsored display focusing on the importance of safe drinking water during the USA Science & Engineering Festival, April 16-17, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Designed by ICC Member Carroll "Chip" Matthews, founder of Integrated Cross Connection Partners, LLC, the system visually details how backflow and back-siphonage occurs. Also on hand at the Engineering Festival will be three students from nearby Dunbar High School who are part of ICC's successful High School Technical Training Program. They helped Matthews build the display model and will assist with the demonstrations. The three students from Dunbar High came to ABC's CraftMasters training facility in Greenbelt, Md., on April 6 to learn about the principles behind backflow, its possible effects for communities and the necessity of its prevention (photos below). They were given hands-on training on a scale model developed by Chip Matthews where the students learned how to assemble it and then reproduce the effects of backflow with the model.

The students were accompanied by Octavus Barnes of Dunbar High School and Maleka Lenzy of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. Representing ICC's High School Technical Training Program (HSTTP) were Government Relations Vice President of Planning & Operations Justin Wiley, Government Relations Programs liason Robert Sale, and HSTTP liaison Jim Ellwood. ICC's HSTTP is a flexible educational program divided into four parts: building, plumbing, HVAC (mechanical) and electrical. This four-part structure enables a technical school to integrate one or more parts of the program into its current construction trade curricula to better provide students with a comprehensive knowledge of construction trades. "Safe drinking water is fundamental to healthy lives and prosperous communities," said Lee Clifton, director of PMG Resources for the Code Council. "Educating and assisting the public on the importance of keeping our drinking water safe by learning more about cross connections and backflow, is key to the success of maintaining a clean water supply."