Councils talk water conservation to schools

Gosford and Wyong Councils is talking to primary school aged children about the need to save water.

A new program is being trialled in four school across the coast starting with Copacabana and Tuggerawong primary schools. These will be followed by Chertsey and Wyong Grove primary schools.

Gosford City Council's Sustainability Communications Officer, Maree Whelan, said the results would be reviewed and the program fine tuned before an additional 10 schools would be invited to participate this year .

"Our aim is to have about 14 primary schools involved in the program each year.

"This is a pro-active approach to educating children about the need to save water and the fun, hands-on and practical program isn’t the norm in most NSW primary schools.

"Our target audience is children five to 12 who will hear where our water comes from; how we use water; how we can help prevent waste; and ways of saving water.

"The program will include a range of activities such as gathering data and conducting water audits, music, dance, games, videos, painting, drawing, photos, videos and other creative forms of communications.

" Although the program is designed to be fun, its main objective is to raise awareness of water conservation among the next generation.

"About 1,000 children will participate in the pilot project.

The Watertight Program was developed by Gosford and Wyong Council’s Environmental Education teams in conjunction with teachers from the NSW Education Department’s Rumbalara Environmental Education Centre.

It’s based on a concept implemented in Sydney by the Observatory Hill Environmental Education Centre

Maree Whelan said the program also helped participating schools fulfil the requirements of the NSW Department of Education’s School Environmental Policy

"This policy was introduced in 2001 and requires all state schools to introduce environmental education into their overall curriculums. It also requires them to develop formal plans for the management of their schools grounds and resources, in particular water, energy, waste and biodiversity.’

Under the Watertight program, participating primary schools need to meet four selection criteria including:

• They must be a large water user
      
• They must demonstrate enthusiasm for the program
      
• They must lodge a formal expression of interest.
      
• Their school must be a minimum of 13 classes in size.

Another key part of the program is the opportunity for students from local high schools to become involved as program mentors.

See additional school information and project material on water conservation.

Media contacts: Laura Clyne 0409 444 100 or Lisa McDermott 0438 980 445

Page last updated: 13/07/06