WITH the current water crisis still facing South Africans, the local organisers of the international Water Explorer Programme believe this to be a crucial time in which to educate youngsters on the importance of water and ways to save it.
“For us, on the wetter side of South Africa, the recent good rains have helped us to recover from three years of prolonged drought. Only now are the rivers, dams and ground water slowly being replenished. That said, one season of good rain can’t play catch up for years of very little, hence cities like Johannesburg and Durban are still subject to level 1 water restrictions,” said Julia Colvin of the International Water Explorer Programme (IWEP).
Education is key to the solution and there is no better time to start than today. The programme has been in operation in SA for three years.
Chriselda Moodley from Inchanga Primary School joined the Water Explorer Programme this year and has so far been very impressed.
“This programme has offered a refreshing perspective on teaching children about the environment. The fun and creative lessons or challenges are flexible to allow even our young members on the team to better understand the environmental problems we are facing,” she said.
Teachers were introduced to this fun online water saving programme and were shown practical ways in which children engage and act on vital water issues. Teachers calculated their own personal water audits and water wasting habits to clearly illustrate how small water saving measures can make big changes in our water budget, especially for schools with large numbers.
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While water saving and pollution prevention is the main aim of the programme, competition between schools help to motivate action. Once challenges are completed, teams are awarded points that count towards prizes.
Another educator from Inchanga Primary School, Dume Mkhawanazi, just loves that the programme brings about measurable changes.
“We are fortunate enough to have flush toilets at our school, but these toilets use up to 13 litres of water per flush. That’s a lot of water considering we have more than 300 children at school. In one of the challenges, learners are asked to complete a water audit of all their water use activities during their school day. This helps them to identify which activities are wasting water. We discovered that by placing a one-litre bottle at the back of the toilet cistern we effectively save up to three litres per child per day,” beamed Dume.
Water Explorer is an HSBC sponsored online water conservation programme spanning 11 countries.
In SA it is implemented by the African Conservation Trust.
More than 350 SA teams are participating this year. To join this initiative, Schools, eco-clubs, scout/cub groups can register for free at www.waterexplorer.org or contact 065 961 9982.
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