The plant I was inquiring about was clearly an input water treatment plant. The man on duty showed me the sand filters used to clean the water, and, in a room with a large tank in which natural gas was burned to create CO2 to adjust the PH of the water, there was a water meter test and repair station. (I recognized the many parts in the little plastic drawers of an Akro-Mills parts cabinet, because my uncle in San Augustine, TX had the same job and taught me how to repair water meters, which obviously hadn't changed in over 30 years!)
The plant across the street with the huge smokestack didn't seem to me to relate to the word shops (as in repair) as much as it did to some industrial process requiring lots of heat.
Oh, and BTW, all the water in the ponds I saw was clear, and there was... uh, nothing floating in it, if you know what I mean.

[This message has been edited by Camp Kohler (2/9/2010)]