Annual Regional Water Festival wraps up 13th year

ALBANY — The 13th annual Regional Water Festival, meant to be a three-day, hands-on event providing a fun and educational opportunity for elementary school students to learn, appreciate and explore the many uses of water, took place at the Albany Civic Center this week.

The festival began on Tuesday and wrapped up on Thursday. The biggest turnout was on Wednesday, which saw more than 300 students attend from elementary schools in the Dougherty County School System, Cooper-Carver Elementary School, Deerfield-Windsor School, St. Teresa’s Catholic School and Terrell Academy.

The opportunity has traditionally been offered to fourth- and fifth-grade students, but this year, third-grade students were extended the opportunity, said Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful Executive Director Judy Bowles.

“Water is our most precious resource, and the young people are the future leaders,” she said. “(Young people) need to learn about the quality and quantity of water.”

Bowles said that, on the final day of the festival, one of the first things the children learned was that the water they were drinking that morning was the same kind the dinosaurs drank.

“With all of our technology, we cannot make water,” she said.

In all, about 800 students participated in interactive water activities at nine stations, from which the students rotated on 20-minute cycles before and after breaking up into two groups for a 30-minute lunch. The presentations included:

— University of Georgia Dougherty County Cooperative Extension Office: “Waste Not, Want Not”

— Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful: “Non-Point Source Pollution”

— Dougherty County Public Works: “Mosquito Control”

— Georgia Forestry Commission/Terrell County: “Protecting Water Quality in Our Forests”

— UGA Lee County Cooperative Extension Office: “Agricultural Water Use”

— WALB-TV: “Weather and You”

— Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission: “Conservation Jeopardy”

— Flint RiverQuarium: “Blue Planet”

— Chehaw: “H Zoo O”

Sarah Sternenberg, a fifth-grade student at Deerfield, said she learned a lot about water conservation as well the impact water has on everyday life.

“I’ve learned that it is important to keep our lakes and rivers and streams (protected),” Sarah said.

The youngster said she learned some things about how pollution can hurt water supply as well. The “Waste Not, Want Not” program was her favorite presentation.

“(Not conserving water) can kill lots of animals, and we’ll have less water to drink, I’m guessing, if we keep polluting the water,” the Sarah said.

Volunteers are expected to go out to area schools whose students were unable to attend the festival and give the students in those facilities an overview of the information presented, Bowles said.

The festival is organized and hosted by Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful and Albany State University’s Flint River Water Planning and Policy Center. Sponsors included Procter & Gamble, Kohl’s, The Darsey Family Foundation and The Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District.