Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD) | Pump Station

Challenge

Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD) does many things. Think garbage, recycling, yard waste, food waste, waste water, etc. Long story short, it’s a lot. But beyond treating and properly disposing items, a big part of what WLSSD does is education. Educating on how different materials should be discarded (and what happens to them after they’re dropped off). What can and can’t be recycled.  How sewage is collected and treated before it’s returned to the St. Louis River.

You get the picture.

One thing, or system rather, that they wanted help educating the community on was their Polk Street Pump Station and Storage Basin. It houses a complex system that you’d never know exists. Mainly because most of what’s happening takes place underground. There is a path right next to the station and you could walk or bike right by without having a clue of all that’s going on beneath your feet.

Solution: Educational Design

So what was our solution? In short, educational design.

Step number one, as it alway is, was to educate ourselves. Before we can create an educational design piece for the public, we first had to understand all that was happening at the pump station and storage basin so we could distill it down for easy public consumption. With a clear understanding of the system, we were able to create several clean and simple illustrations custom-designed to help explain what the station does and why. These design we’re used to build an outline of the system that was then turned into a large exterior sign that will be displayed outside of the station. This way, those walkers and bikers will now know exactly what all is happening when they pass by.

More Design Work for WLSSD

On top of the Pump Station Project, we’ve also created several other pieces to help WLSSD educate the community about their services. A couple other projects we’ve worked on include wall mural and internal signage as well as a biofilter educational diagram.