Worldwide Water Education
Educate. Empower. Act. The mission of Project WET is to reach children, parents, educators and communities of the world with water education. We invite you to join us in educating children about the most precious resource on the planet — water.
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Discovery Ayuda: “Project WET seeks to create healthier communities in the slums of Rio”
This is a translation of an article written by Paula Rizzi in Spanish and published on Discovery Ayuda [Discovery Help], a Spanish-language website of the Discovery Network, on 24 April 2013.
In the last 20 years, problems related to the use and supply of drinking water have been increasing. As explained by the United Nations, "One in three people live in a country with moderate to high water scarcity, and it is possible that by 2030, shortages will affect nearly half the world's population, as demand may exceed supply by 40 percent."
Given that our future is tied to this resource and that one of the biggest challenges worldwide is to ensure sustainable water management, there are some successful projects that emphasize education, conservation and drinking water supply in different areas of the world.
These include the Project Water Education for Teachers (WET) Foundation, a nonprofit organization working since 1984 to bring water education to children, parents, teachers and communities around the world. One project in the region [of Latin America] is the Education and Water program (Educação e água) in Rio de Janeiro, which puts the focus on the slums of the Brazilian city. In these historically marginalized areas, some 1.2 million people live and often suffer from problems related to water and sanitation.
In an interview with Discovery Ayuda [a Spanish-language website of the Discovery Network], Nicole Ritter, Project WET's communications manager, and Julia Nelson, LAC projects manager, said that the decision to work in Rio happened in 2011, when Nelson traveled to Rio and visited one of the schools in the favelas. The favela's residents faced daily water problems that threatened their health.
"Pirated water connections-locally called los gatos [cats]-were everywhere, and many of them were broken, leaking or even contaminated," Nelson and Ritter said in an email. "Sporadic garbage collection and improper trash disposal had led to piles of waste that were causing storm drains to overflow and jeopardizing water quality. Hand washing with soap-a highly effective way to prevent illness-was not being practiced. Diseases like dengue fever and leptospirosis were common. And since many of the favelas are built into hillsides, the water contamination that was occurring there was being carried directly into Rio's watershed."
Seeing the situation, Nelson thought the education model on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) that Project WET had successfully used in other countries could improve this situation.
Educate, empower, act
Project WET seeks to raise awareness not only about how to protect and care for water resources but also on how to use water to improve health.
"Educating people about recycling and proper trash disposal, for example, protects shared water resources by preventing germs and other contaminants in trash from being carried into the water supply as water flows through communities. Teaching children to wash their hands with soap and water can reduce their risk of disease by 45 percent, according to the World Health Organization. Informing school kids about how diseases like dengue spread with the help of standing water and showing them how to keep water safer can help them be healthier as well. All of these small actions add up to big improvements in the water situation in these areas," Ritter and Nelson explained.
That is why the Education and Water program in the favelas of Rio aims to teach kids some changes in daily habits in relation to water.
"We focus on children because research shows that changing behavior in children can influence larger behavior changes in the community. Children bring home their lessons about water protection and conservation to their parents, who in turn adopt the behaviors. In this way, schools can be engines of positive social change," they continue.
Project WET works in Rio with the help of local teachers, health centers, NGOs, government officials and the community, developing educational materials for teachers and children ages three to 12. Within this strategy are also proposed hands-on activities that teach healthy habits. As a result, communities are learning to reduce diarrhea by implementing hygiene techniques to prevent dengue through appropriate management of water and to prevent pollution through better waste disposal and clean, safe water intake.
Project WET also works in other Latin American countries such as El Salvador, Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, offering educational activities on water and sanitation to thousands of children in the region.
To learn more about Project WET and its local initiatives, visit the Project WET website.
“Education and Water” Program Aims to Improve Community Health in Rio Favelas
Project WET's program in Rio de Janeiro is in the publication phase! We are expecting approval from the Ministry of Education soon and hope to have the materials printed by the end of June. Once the materials are in hand, Project WET staff will return to Rio to train trachers to use the materials with their students after school holidays in July. To offer a more visual view of our work in Rio, we have created videos in English and Portuguese:
Check out our work in one of the world's great cities today!
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Water in Space: Weird and Wonderful!
In the annals of science, wringing out a washcloth doesn't sound like much of an experiment at all. Put that washcloth into space, however, and it becomes a whole different level of interesting. That's what Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield proved recently on the International Space Station when he obliged two Nova Scotia high school students by answering their question about water and gravity on camera. So what does happen when you wring out a soaked washcloth in space? Check out the video to find out:
As an aside, Commander Hadfield does tons of other great, classroom-friendly experiments from the International Space Station and posts them on YouTube. He also has his own Twitter account in space, @Cmdr_Hadfield.
To comment on this or any other Project WET blog entry or on the website in general, please contact us on social media or via email. We can be reached on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google + and LinkedIn.
Project WET USA Conference Speaker Is Pulitzer Prize Finalist
David Haskell, one of the plenary session leaders at the upcoming Project WET USA Water Education Conference in Denver this August, has received fresh acclaim for his 2012 book The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature. On Monday, The Forest Unseen was named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in the General Nonfiction category. Pulitzer jurors described The Forest Unseen as "a fascinating book that, for a year, closely follows the natural wonders occurring within a tiny patch of old-growth Tennessee forest."
Dr. Haskell will be giving a luncheon keynote during the 16th annual Project WET USA conference. Click here to register or to learn more about the event.
To comment on this or any other Project WET blog entry or on the website in general, please contact us on social media or via email. We can be reached on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google + and LinkedIn.