Children's Groundwater Festivals - Grand River Conservation Authority

4 th Canadian River Heritage Conference Susan Reid
Guelph, Ontario June 6-9, 200
Proceedings
Children’s Groundwater Festivals
Children’s Groundwater Festivals
Susan Reid
Regional Municipality of Waterloo
Monday June 7, 2004 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Susan Reid is the program coordinator for the
Children’s Water Education Council and oversees
the development of new children’s water festivals
across the province. She graduated from Lakehead
University, Thunder Bay, with a better knowledge of
water science from her studies in Forestry. Susan
spent five years at the Ontario Agricultural Museum
introducing students to outdoor learning experiences
through a number of educational programs. After a
number of years developing in-class programs for
students in the Waterloo Region, she now specializes
in working with communities interested in hosting a
children’s water festival in their region.
Abstract
This paper describes the resources that are necessary
to successfully hold a water oriented youth education
event. Typically, Children’s Water Festival are
community-based events, put on by the community,
for the community. Since 1994, more than 125,000
children and 30,000 accompanying adults have been
in attendance at over 30 water festivals across southcentral
Ontario. To further increase the number of
students taught environmental awareness through
these events, the Children’s Water Education Council
is working to expand the number of Children’s Water
Festivals across Ontario.
Across the province, venue is a critical component to
the success of Children’s Water Festivals. The
deciding factor in choosing a site usually is the
natural water element within the area. In
Peterborough, for example, the Festival takes place
beside the Otonabee River, in Eastern Ontario on the
banks of the Rideau River. Similarily the Grey Bruce
Festival makes use of the local pond and the
Waterloo Wellington Festival utilizes the historic
Schneider Creek. In Peel, they are working to reestablish
the natural shore line of Heart Lake by
removing concrete and having students plant native
species and the York Festival is held at Bruce Mills
Conservation Authority.
At a Children’s Water Festival the natural
environment is a key factor in the success of
educating youth through hands-on learning centres.
For children to be able to see the surface water, it is a
tangible thing they can learn from and grow to
respect. A Children’s Water Festival celebrates the
importance of water in the lives of students. The
mark of a successful event is when students are
empowered to become environmental stewards of our
most precious resource, water.
Through a new partnership between the Ontario
Water Works Association (OWWA) and the
Children’s Water Education Council (CWEC) the
Children’s Water Festival Starter‘s kit, “Just Add
Water” will be available to communities and will
provide approximately 10 engaging activity centres
that can be easily set-up as well as transported in the
trailer provided.
The CWEC manual entitled, “How to Start a
Children’s Water Festival” is also included with the
“Just Add Water” trailer, and outlines all aspects
required to ensure a successful Festival. Components
explored include; establishing a steering committee,
choosing a venue, choosing activity centres, hosting
teacher orientation and recruiting volunteers.
This project will work with many communities to
support the development of successful Water
Festivals, by providing a package of activity centres,
which reflect the five water themes; water
conservation, water science, water technology, water
attitude, water protection. Also included are
supporting manuals, training videos and CWEC and
OWWA’s expertise in water education.
According to the United Nations Economic
and Social Commission public education is a
critical component of water conservation
and water efficiency worldwide. Canadians
are among the highest water users in the
world. Without increased public knowledge
and awareness, Canadians will continue to
use water at an alarming rate. By educating
our youth about personal conservation
practices we are providing the key to
sustaining water supplies and livable
environments for future generations.
The importance of clean water cannot be
overstated. Historically, communities across
Ontario developed around water sources that
supported the growth of commerce, industry
and transportation. We depend on water for
our very existence, yet at the present time
many water sources are threatened by the
daily actions and processes of individuals
and industry. Maintaining water quality and
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4 th Canadian River Heritage Conference Susan Reid
Guelph, Ontario June 6-9, 200
Proceedings
Children’s Groundwater Festivals
quantity is extremely important for the
growth and stability of a region.
One of the challenges for a new Festival
Organizing Committee is to acquire or build
activities centres. A fledgling organizing
committee could utilize a pre-packaged set
of proven activities, to experiment with a
pilot Festival and then, work towards
implementing full scale festival in
subsequent years. Now through a bold new
partnership between the OWWA and
CWEC, the Children Water Festival
Starter’s kit, “Just Add Water” will be
available to communities and will provide
approximately 10 activity centres that can be
easily set-up and transported; helping to
encourage Children’s Water Festivals across
the province.
CHILDREN”S WATER FESTIVAL
MODEL
Since, 1994 close to 125,000 children and
30,000 accompanying adults have been in
attendance at over 30 water festivals across
south-central Ontario. The first Canadian
Children’s Water Festival was held in
Milton Ontario, after a visit to the Nebraska
Children’s Groundwater Festival by a
delegation of interested Canadians.
In 1996, the Water Festival programming
expanded to several communities in Ontario,
including Waterloo, Peel and Metro
Toronto/York. Thanks to continued support
from all the partners, these Festivals are
heading into their ninth consecutive year.
Each Festival is constantly evolving and
growing to meet the demands of ever
changing educational needs and
expectations.
The objectives of the Children’s Water
Festival model are simple and
straightforward: educate children about the
importance of our most precious resource,
water, and its life essential qualities. After
recent problems with water quality and
quantity, communities across the province
are studying how best to protect local
groundwater and/or surface water sources.
In Eastern Ontario, their groundwater study
strongly supported education as a tool to
protect the local water source, this led to the
development of three area Children’s Water
Festivals which were established in 2002.
Children's Water Festival Attendance
(1994 to 2003)
200,000
180,000
160,000
Annual Attendance
Cumultative Total
140,000
Number of Children
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
Estimated 2004
Attendance
40,000
20,000
0
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
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Tourism & River Celebrations

4 th Canadian River Heritage Conference Susan Reid
Guelph, Ontario June 6-9, 200
Proceedings
Children’s Groundwater Festivals
The Children’s Water Festival is geared
towards students in grades two through five.
The Festival utilizes more than 40 hands-on
activity centres to teach five main water
themes; water technology, water science,
water attitude, water conservation and water
protection. Activity centres are designed to
be interactive and fun for all the students
who attend.
Figure #1 – Pioneer Water Race helps
children understand historical importance of
water in their lives.
Figure #2 - The Great Water Race children
measures how fast it takes for water to travel
through different soil strata.
Table 1 - Typical Examples of Children's Water Festival Activity Centres
Water Conservation Activity Centres
• Royal Flush
• 3x's a Day
• Go with the Flow
• Lather Up!
Water Attitude Activity Centres
• Doing the Laundry
• Bucket Brigade
• Pioneer Water Race
• Aboriginal Voices
• Medical Mystery
• Off I Go!
Water Technology Activity Centres
• Simply Divine
• Down the Sewer
• Filter Bed
To host a local Children’s Water Festival
many partners are involved; municipal,
provincial and federal government agencies;
conservation authorities; educators,
secondary and elementary schools and their
boards; and local businesses and industry.
Water Protection Activity Centres
• The Amazing Aquifer
• Enviroscape
• Oil Slick!
• No Water off a Duck's Back
• Friendly Grass!
Water Science Activity Centres
• Porosity and Permeability
• The Great Water Race
• Water Cycle
• Septic Sights!
Each Festival works with many of these
organizations within their community to
build a strong organizing committee.
Developing many community partners helps
to sustain each local Festival, by securing
local funding efforts, in-kind donations,
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4 th Canadian River Heritage Conference Susan Reid
Guelph, Ontario June 6-9, 200
Proceedings
Children’s Groundwater Festivals
volunteer recruitment and educational
programming support.
Volunteer organizing committees are the
driving force of a successful Children’s
Water Festival. Local Children’s Water
Festivals work with Volunteer Action
Centres to ensure a wide variety of
volunteers at a Festival, ranging in age from
young adults through to seniors. Organizing
Committees work with area high school
teachers to encourage their students to
participate year after year. Secondary
students are core to the volunteer efforts at
the Festival. Since 1994, over 15,000
volunteers have been presenting these
important water messages to the students
attending.
At a Festival, both teachers and students are
provided with a resource kit containing
water related facts, games and activities.
Teacher resources kits included additional
information, and descriptions of each
festival activity. This allows learning to
continue in the classroom and at home.
The success of the Children’s Water
Festivals across the province has been based
on numerous factors; the festivals are
designed to be fun and interactive, if
students learn in a fun setting the message
will have a lasting effect. As well, many
people are becoming more concerned about
the environment, especially water. They
want to be more aware about water
conservation and protection for future use,
and at the Festival they learn how water
protection and conservation can be managed
right in their home.
The Festival’s offer unique, interactive,
water education programming which
promotes a “hands-on” learning
environment, delivered in a manner
conducive to two-way learning. Emphasis is
placed on communication to and with
children, and focus is placed on the
translation of technical information into
details which are easily understood by
children of all ages.
By initiating programming at the junior
elementary level, this builds interest in water
science and education at a very early age.
As these children continue to develop
through senior elementary programming,
they will be in a very good position to pass
key messaging along to following
generations in years to come. These
children will grow up to become the next
generation of volunteer leaders at future
Children’s Water Festivals.
INSPIRING FUTURE CHILDREN’S
WATER FESTIVALS
By allowing more communities easy access
to the resources to start a Festival, we are
encouraging more youth to become
environmental stewards. For this reason, the
Ontario Water Works Association (OWWA)
and the Children’s Water Education Council
(CWEC) are working to expand the number
of Children’s Water Festivals across the
province.
CWEC was formed in February, 2001. Their
mission is to educate children about the
importance of water conservation,
protection, technology and ecology through
a variety of learning environments. One of
CWEC’s objectives is to assist Children’s
Water Festivals across the province of
Ontario.
CWEC’s members come from all walks of
life, and contribute a wealth of experience
and knowledge in education, water science,
project and program management,
communication, technical writing, and
conference and workshop facilitation.
CWEC has demonstrated time and time
again that educating children at a young age
is one of the most effective ways to affect
social change. By educating young people
about the importance of our water source,
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4 th Canadian River Heritage Conference Susan Reid
Guelph, Ontario June 6-9, 200
Proceedings
Children’s Groundwater Festivals
we are ensuring a legacy of environmental
consciousness for this next generation.
Ontario Water Works Association (OWWA)
is a voluntary membership organization of
about 1300 drinking water professionals
dedicated to protecting public health through
the delivery of safe, sufficient and
sustainable drinking water in Ontario. Since
1916, its members have been supporting
best practices in the stewardship of water
through continuous improvement of
technology, science and management, and
by influencing government policy.
The OWWA Youth Education Committee is
one of the many working committees within
the OWWA striving to achieve its strategic
goals and objectives. The Youth Education
Committee’s mandate seeks to encourage its
water utility membership supporting
Children’s Water Festivals across Ontario.
A Children’s Water Festival is typically a
community-based event, put on by the
community, for the community. An
organizing committee is made up of a
number of volunteers from local businesses,
government, not for profit organizations and
the education community who work together
throughout the year in organizing these
Festivals.
One of the greatest challenges for a new
Festival Organizing Committee is to acquire
or build activities centres. There are
advantages to fledgling organizing
committee is utilizing a pre-packaged set of
proven activities, to pilot an event. The
events attract new partners and prove
valuable to stakeholders, so as to work
towards implementing full scale festival in
subsequent years.
The starter kit, “Just Add Water”, is being
developed in partnership with CWEC and
OWWA. “Just Add Water” will help create
more Festivals across the province; meeting
teachers’ needs to educate their students
about water related issues in a fun outdoor
learning centre.
“Just Add Water” would provide at least 10
activity centres that can be easily set-up and
transported to outlying communities. It
would be transported with the use of a
trailer, so sized that it would be able to be
towed by a standard ½ ton pick-up truck.
The activity trailers would be maintained
and stored through the in-kind sponsorship
of OWWA member water utilities and
municipalities.
The CWEC manual entitled “How to Start a
Children’s Water Festival” is also included
with the “Just Add Water” trailer, and
outlines all aspects required to ensure a
Figure #3 Niagara Children’s Water Festival
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4 th Canadian River Heritage Conference Susan Reid
Guelph, Ontario June 6-9, 200
Proceedings
Children’s Groundwater Festivals
successful festival. CWEC and its network
of other Children Water Festivals will
provide advice and assistance on how to run
a Festival.
Announced at the time of this paper’s
publication, funding approval has been
granted by the Trillium Foundation for a
multi-year grant, to help develop, build and
administer the Children Water Festival
Starter’s kit, “Just Add Water”, beginning in
2004!
Figure #4 – “Just Add Water” Program Schedule and Scope
Northern Ontario
Six (6) “Just Add Water” Starter
Kits Deployed in 2005 and 2006
Southern, Central & Eastern Ontario
Six (6) “Just Add Water” Starter Kits
Deployed in 2004 and 2005
•$320k over 3 years
•collaborative partnering
between CWEC and OWWA
member water utilities
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4 th Canadian River Heritage Conference Susan Reid
Guelph, Ontario June 6-9, 200
Proceedings
Children’s Groundwater Festivals
Conclusion
Education is paramount to the success of
water conservation. The main challenge in
conserving our natural resources is changing
current attitudes and behaviours. Since the
attitudes and behaviours of adults are often a
difficult thing to change, it is our children
that we have to influence. They will grow
up to be the future caretakers of our
resources. Further, children learn easily and
take what they learn home to their families.
In many cases, children can influence other
family members to adopt a more water
efficient behaviour. Therefore, providing a
fun, educational environment for kids to
learn about water is an excellent public
service.
Finally, it is not just the students who learn
from the displays. A fact that is reinforced
through this type of educational
environment, everyone benefits from
learning in an interactive setting.
Volunteers, teachers and parent volunteers
are happy to have the opportunity to gather
information about water conservation, water
protection, new water technologies, water
science and changing water attitudes. Due
to the Festivals, people are becoming more
concerned about the environment, especially
water and its protection. Water plays an
essential role in the social, economic and
health of our community.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully appreciate the
involvement of all affiliate Children’s Water
Festivals from across Ontario, whose
determination and dedication towards
educating our youth, would not have made
this paper possible.
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