“Mission Critical”: Wastewater Treatment Plant

By: Valerie Madriz Montero '25

Cate School’s wastewater treatment plant, designed to process 7000 gallons daily, is collapsing under 25,000 gallons of daily inflow, spurring the Head of School, Alex Lockett, and the school’s facilities team to mandate 5-minute showers, stricter flushing rules, and emphasize weekday laundry. Without immediate action, administrators warn, the failing infrastructure could disrupt campus operations and trigger costly repairs, but students argue that the emergency measures came too late.

Before COVID, Cate School charged students ¢.50 per laundry load, but when the pandemic hit, free laundry was introduced in an effort to get students to do their laundry more regularly. However, “It caused a massive spike in water usage,” said Mrs. Lockett. Now, the wastewater plant, built to handle 7,000 gallons daily, is overwhelmed by 25,000 gallons. The issue is that some students are flushing socks, tampons, banana peels, and other items that have clogged the system’s filters. This is not just a problem; it’s “mission-critical,” Mrs. Lockett added, stressing that years of strain have pushed the aging infrastructure to the brink.

According to Erin Hansen, “Sometimes in life, accidental adversaries happen, where good things accidentally come into competition with one another.” For example, more homes were built to bring in more faculty, but in return, this increased water usage, which increased the plant’s volume and wear. Certain factors led to a steep decline in the plant, and now, thought initially to be a “$1.5 million replacement, it has become a $5.5 million repair,” Mrs. Hansen concerningly stated. This is why Mrs. Hansen is determined to “take care of the issue now so it doesn’t become a crisis situation. We have to change our actions to prevent a crisis because sometimes that’s what life gives you.”

Even faculty not directly involved with managing the plant, like Emma Henderson, recognized and understood the “frustration” of the students in regards to their feelings of these restrictive water usage measures being overdue, but believes “we’re in a position where we don’t have time for frustration, it’s just a necessity.” Ms. Henderson notes this situation is like the “Tragedy of the Commons.” Mrs. Lockett made a similar comment in which she related this issue to voting. According to Ms. Henderson and Mrs. Lockett, some community members act in their own interest, believing others will make the necessary change to delay the impairment of the plant when, in reality, this mindset is detrimental to the collective well-being. It is a “collective action problem here; we’re all tempted to take longer showers,” Ms. Henderson says.

Sophomore Aleema BoWo understands the restrictions placed upon the community and

acknowledges that “since we have so many faculty houses and students, it makes sense that we’re using so much water,” but wishes “they could’ve told us earlier and prevented the extreme measures they’re taking now.”

Freshman Guadalupe Flores finds these measures as good establishments as they “not only allows for more shower time for everyone, but it’s also less water waste” and overall found these restrictions acceptable, but like BoWo, found this as a “really delayed response, and if they had implemented the regulations earlier, it would have been helpful.”

Junior and day student Maia Holmes also feels like the administration “should’ve taken a more proactive step,” but finds it “astonishing” that we are way over the 7000-gallon limit. She explains that she will max, “take a 10-minute shower, and it’s kind of crazy to me that people here take like 30-minute showers.”

Despite the current situation with the wastewater treatment plant, Mrs. Lockett acknowledges that, “We are at our best when we can be strategic and thoughtful and forward planning,” highlighting that she has “a hope for this school that it can be the healthiest place to live, learn, and work. And part of being healthy is not that bad things don’t happen, but that we invest a lot of energy into trying to prevent bad things from happening.”