By Nicole Rosenleaf Ritter

A hundred years ago—less in some places—turning on a tap to get clean, fresh water on demand must have seemed like a miracle. Indeed, for one in eight people worldwide even today, it's a miracle that has yet to appear.

In the contemporary United States, however, water is no big deal to most people. The only time we notice is when something goes wrong.

That bothers Denver-based artist Rik Sargent.

"People are so disconnected from the miracle of water," Sargent asserts. "It's just water—it's just there. We need to be reminded of the mystery, so that when you turn on your faucet, it almost becomes something sacred. When you hold up the water, you're connected to the world."

The 3,000-pound sculpture had to be moved by crane.

With that in mind, Sargent spent a year creating "One World, One Water," an educational sculpture 14 feet high and 10 feet wide that will make its home at the Bozeman Public Library through October courtesy of the Project WET Foundation, a nonprofit water education organization based in Bozeman.

Sargent says that the sculpture was inspired by the interactive, hands-on water education curriculum that Project WET has been creating since its founding in 1984.

"We're all part of the one drop of water, no matter where we are in the world," Sargent explains. "It is such a fabulous, consciousness-opening thought, and one that comes directly from Project WET's teachings about how water moves through the world."

In fact, the design itself—which Sargent's patron, the Denver-based conservationist Valerie Gates, describes as a "large infinity symbol formed into a single drop of water expressing the water cycle from ground water to surface, watersheds and oceans into the atmosphere"—is similar to a work that Sargent did for Project WET not long after the organization left its longtime home at Montana State University to become an independent foundation in 2005.

Gates had become involved with Project WET after working with the organization's founder, Dennis Nelson, to create a curriculum around the Rio Grande watershed in the late 1990s. She asked Sargent to meet with her, then-Project WET staffer Justin Howe and Nelson—who also serves as the organization's president and CEO—to come up with a suitable design. Sargent says that the creation process was thrilling.

"We all looked at each other at one point and we just knew how exciting this was," he recalls.

The result—a three-foot-high, patinaed bronze water-infinity symbol atop a simple wooden plinth—stands in the Project WET Foundation's international headquarters, located on W. Oak Street in Bozeman. Smaller versions of the sculpture have been given out as awards to leading figures in the world of water, a reflection of the Montana nonprofit's global reach. Working in all 50 states and more than 50 countries worldwide, Project WET brings action-oriented, science-based water resources education to children, parents, teachers and communities worldwide.

MORE THAN ART

The 3,000-pound "One World, One Water" sculpture includes intricately formed, tactile details that illustrate how water connects all living things-from whales to waterfowl. Working in clay, Sargent sculpted approximately 20 different habitats and more than 100 separate animals—along with other water users such as factories—showing how water flows from one user to another and back again through the water cycle.

Gates—who is also sponsoring the sculpture's stay in Bozeman—sees the sculpture as both a celebration and another method of water education.

"It's not being presented as a piece of art," she says. "It's an educational tool. I'm a visual learner, and I want to reach people visually. It has details that spark conversation at any corner of the sculpture, and it encourages dialogue about water."
Bozeman Public Library Foundation Director Paula Beswick echoes that sentiment.

"This sculpture offers a lot," says Paula Beswick. "It's not just public art—it's meant to fit into the Library's whole model, which is to enlighten, educate and entertain. In terms of what we do, it really hits the mark."

To that end, both Project WET and the Library plan educational programming around the theme of water—from children's classes to online contests—throughout the sculpture's stay. Beswick adds that the Library also hopes to use the sculpture as part of its ongoing efforts around the topic of sustainability.

"We're a green building, and we're very proud of it," she says. "Ours was the first public building in Montana to get Silver LEED Certification, and one of our goals is to promote sustainability and everything that goes along with that."

The outreach will culminate in Project WET's first international water education conference, Sustaining the Blue Planet, which is expected to bring 300 to 500 international leaders in water education to Bozeman in September.

Gates says that the timing has worked out perfectly.

"It is such a joy to bring ‘One World, One Water' to Bozeman to assist with the conference because I am so thrilled with how far Project WET has come," she says. "I hope that it will bring attention to the work that Project WET is doing, and brings awareness of the jewel that and the resource that Project WET is for Bozeman. I hope it will spark curiosity so that people will want to learn more."

MAKING WAVES

After its stay in Bozeman, the sculpture will return to Colorado, where it will be permanently installed at Metro State College in Denver, which Gates describes as "an urban college adjacent to a headwater river, the South Platte." The return trip will coincide with both the UN Year of Water and Colorado's Year of Water. The state shares a name and fate with the Colorado River basin, which provides the water source for more than 28 million people in the Southwest United States.

Gates characterizes the sculpture and her longstanding advocacy for Project WET and water education as throwing a pebble into a pond.

"I'm interested in the ripple effect of water education," she says. "What this sculpture has done is to create the opportunity to discuss water issues in the West, providing a focal point for disparate, broad water issues."

Writing in the New York Times "Letters" section last October, Project WET CEO Nelson asserted that engaging water education—of the kind promoted by initiatives such as the "One World, One Water" sculpture and Project WET's global water education conference—is one important part of understanding water challenges and how to manage them for the good of all water users.

"Effective, hands-on water-resources management education-especially for children and youth-increases personal responsibility and promotes communitywide efforts to better manage, conserve, and protect water," Nelson wrote. "Kids who grow up with a conservation ethic become adults who value water—and who create solutions for problems that now seem insurmountable."

"One World, One Water" will be installed at the Bozeman Public Library from April through October. A small photo gallery is available here. For more information about programming, please contact the Project WET Foundation at blueplanet@projectwet.org or visit the Project WET website.