AURORA | The group of fifth-graders from Sunrise Elementary School rattled off the names of all of the city’s water reservoirs without a pause.
Rampart, Homestake, Spinney Mountain, Strontia Springs, Aurora, Quincy, Turqoise. Lake Meredith, Lake Henry, Jefferson Lake and Pueblo. The three student leaders attending the Youth Water Festival May 18 at the Community College of Aurora’s CentreTech Campus knew plenty about Aurora’s water system, as well as larger issues of conservation. Madison Bryant, Elizabeth Groves and Maxwell Siebersma, all 11-year-olds from Aurora, had plenty to share about their home utility.
“We’ve been talking about how much water there is on Earth and how important it is that we conserve water,” Siebersma said. “Drinkable water is only 1 percent, so it’s very important that we conserve that small amount.”
That literacy in the matters of all things aquatic is no accident. For the eighteenth year in a row, Aurora Water has paired with local school districts to spread the message about water conservation, storage and the basic operations of one of the largest water departments in the state during the daylong Youth Water Festival.
This year, about 1,600 students from 500 schools across the city attended the festival, which included classes about soil and water conservation, trivia rounds with prizes and activities straight out of a water park. Fifth-graders ran through showers shot from a water wall, they worked to construct a water pipeline made of fabric on one of CCA’s lawns and they made their own “groundwater slushies.”
“We started out with just a few hundred kids,” said Natalie Brower-Kirton, an education program specialist with Aurora Water on hand to guide students through the maze of activities and classes. Students from the Aurora Public Schools and Cherry Creek School district attended the event. “Each class will see five to six different presentations. We have about 140 volunteers from all different realms of the water world. We have weather people, U.S. Geological Survey people – they’re all doing different presentations.”
According to Brower, the festival’s wide range of focus carries an ulterior motive. The volunteers, teachers and activity leaders from Aurora Water have an eye toward the next generation of conservationists and utility managers, she said. Reaching out to the next generation of water consumers and users is the motive that’s driven the event since the beginning, and it’s the driving force that brought other officials from state wildlife and conservation organizations.
“These kids will be making future decisions about water. Water will continue to be a big issue in Colorado and the arid West,” Brower-Kirton said. “We want them to learn early. We also do classroom presentations for kindergarten through 12th grade. Fifth grade is just the grade we target for this festival. We really want them to know where their water comes from, more than just thinking, ‘Oh, I turn on the faucet.’”
That means explaining the details of the concept of drought, a reality that’s been a big part of the city’s recent past. The low reservoir levels and rationing of water in 2003, for example, was one of the driving forces behind the construction of the Prairie Waters Project, Aurora’s $654-million water project designed to ensure the city’s future supply.
But teaching pupils of any age about the details of water law, conservation and utility management is no simple task. Putting complex issues in a framework that will capture and hold the attention of an average 11-year-old has been the constant challenge of the event.
“That’s called ‘The Great Water Relay,’” Brower-Kirton said, pointing to a series of orange pipes made of fabric. “They talk about how we have to move water from the mountains to the cities. The kids actually have to carry water through a relay. They use that as a metaphor.”
The message seemed to resonate for the students from Sunrise Elementary. Bryant, Groves and Siebersma spoke proudly about the trivia contests they’d won and the lessons they’d offered their peers. Aurora has 12,000 water hydrants, they explained. The city’s 12 reservoirs hold all the water that’s delivered through faucets across the city. Considering that only 1 percent of the water supply on earth is fit for drinking, they added, knowing such details is sure to come in handy in the future.
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com or 720-449-9707