A dozen Oak Harbor teenagers met at the sewer treatment construction site with paint, a ladder and super-sized box of Goldfish crackers.

As heavy equipment wheezed and pounded nearby, they painted.

An octopus with tentacles twisting. Salmon wending their way up stream.

They came by invitation from the city. While the construction zone is a fascinating field trip with its cranes, big trucks and bustle, probably no one would call a worksite aesthetically pleasing. At the moment, it’s a giant square hole ringed by chainlink fence.

City Engineer Joe Stowell said he saw an opportunity to bring a touch of beauty and involve local kids.

“The kids did all the work,” he said. “I just provided the canvas.”

That canvas is two gigantic, rectangular gray storm water tanks. The city purchased the tanks to clean the water from the construction area. They sit on the edge of the site off City Beach Street, near ballfields and Windjammer Park.

The teens are all students involved in an art club at Oak Harbor High School called The Guild.

The artists developed the design themselves, a Native American inspired representation of Pacific Northwest sea creatures, said Alana Acosta, an 18-year-old senior.

“We tried to draw inspiration from other Native American art and piece together our own interpretation,” Acosta said.

The choice of something so tied to nature seemed appropriate given the job of the future sewer treatment plant — to turn dirty water clean, she said.

The industrial, drab tanks needed a certain something, said Tyler Fay, a 17-year-old junior.

“They’re really bland,” he said. “It adds something to the town.”

The teens expect to put the finishing touches on the project next week.

At least one Oak Harbor man approves. Wednesday while they worked, he slowed his truck, stuck a “thumb’s up” out the window and yelled, “Good job guys — it looks great!”