Water Audits | Water Program Development | Grass Roots Turfing Project | Think Water Act Water | Student's Spot | Useful Websites | Get Involved

 

2009 MDBA International River Health Conference, October 18-20, Canberra, Australia

 "AN INTERNATIONAL EVENT BY KIDS FOR KIDS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT"

ACT SCHOOLS NEED TO REGISTER NOW!

At this stage you need only register interest as this effectively reserves your spot. You then complete the full registration once you can confirm the student and teacher names. When you complete the full registration you will be sent an invoice payable within one month of issue i.e. you do not have to pay when registering interest, only upon completion of full registration.

 To register you must consider the following criteria:

• You must be a student from year 5 to year 11 or an accompanying teacher
• The maximum number allowed to register per school is 15 students and 3 teachers
• Each group must keep a ratio of 1 teacher to 5 students
• There are no refunds for cancelled registrations
• If a student registers and then is unable to attend you can only substitute a student of the same sex (for accommodation reasons) and this can only be done up until 1 month prior to the event

To register your interest go to http://www.onelifeoneworldourfuture.com/index.php?pageid=421

Water Audits

Water audits were conducted in 2006 and will continue in 2007 on all of the schools that participated in the Sustainable Schools pilot program. All pilot schools committed to creating a School Environmental Management Plan (SEMP) before implementing any action. The information from the water audits will help each school to work towards targets set out in their SEMP.

The leadership team was required to complete a self-water audit before any further action was taken to get an official water audit. Once this information was obtained, ActewAGL visited the school and completed the official water audit in conjunction with the leadership team.

Students were eager to participate in water audits as it meant getting out of the classroom, searching the school grounds and getting wet and dirty! While they were having fun they were also learning a lot about water; how to measure it, what different irrigation systems there are and how they work, where to find the water meter and the different uses of water around the school. The students enjoyed the experience as they were able to take ownership of the investigations and plan actions to be taken in the school based on their findings.

Reports have been prepared for schools that have had water audits completed and this information has been crucial in the development of the water section of their SEMP.

For your school to receive a water audit, you need to:

1. Commit to becoming a sustainable school, and 
2. Obtain and complete a school walk through water audit.  

For more information please email vanessal.whelan@act.gov.au

 

Water Program Development

Finally teachers are getting what they have asked for - a complete package to Educate for a Sustainable Future! ActewAGL, TAMS and DET developed a partnership to produce a locally focused water and energy education program for all ACT schools.

Click here to find out more…

 

Grass Roots Turfing Project, ACTEW

The Grass Roots Turfing project is part of ACTEW's commitment to continue educating the community about permanent water conservation. The Rosary School Oval has been transformed into a scientific experiment with a number of turf varieties and drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. Open spaces such as ovals are traditionally one of our largest users of water, so it's important to learn how to maintain these playing fields for our children, while still achieving water savings. ACTEW holds public demonstrations and workshops at the Rosary School Oval to help educate the community about the findings, as well as how to establish and maintain water efficient turf.

For more information visit the ACTEW website or call the Water Conservation Office on (02) 6248 3131. 

Think water, act water

For information on the ACT Government's Policy and Programs aimed at reducing water consumption in the ACT community, click here . 

Student's Spot

This spot is for students!

We would like to hear from students from any schools who have been involved in the AUSSI ACT or are getting involved!

If you or your class have any great ideas, photos, powerpoints or projects that you have done or are doing and you would like to share it with other students, please email vanessal.whelan@act.gov.au

Useful Websites

www.thinkwater.act.gov.au 

www.actewagl.com.au/education/