Meet the next generation of water stewards
Kids learning about water stewardship on a River KATS field trip
“Start ’em young” is a mantra for any number of healthy habits, and applies equally to water stewardship. With support from Arrowhead® Brand 100% Mountain Spring Water, both the Cucamonga Valley Water District and Inland Empire Waterkeeper organization offer imaginative programs to encourage water stewardship and conservation among local youth in California’s Inland Empire.
Inland Empire Waterkeeper introduces K-12 students to watershed concepts through in-class activities and hands-on field trips of its River KATS (Kid Activism Through Science) program. Since 2006, River KATS has reached thousands of children from Inland Empire public schools, many of them in disadvantaged communities. With sponsorship from the Arrowhead brand, the program is expected to impact a record 1,140 students in the 2016/2017 academic year, completely free of charge for the schools and students. The Arrowhead brand’s new sponsorship of the program means that this year alone they will be able to reach as many students as they had reached in the previous 10 years combined.
“My favorite part was when we got to do water testing, because that was when I realized how dirty our water was and how much it took to clean the water,” said Denise T., a fifth-grader at the aptly named Clearwater Elementary School in Perris, Calif., of her recent River KATS trip to nearby Lake Perris, an important reservoir of the State Water Project.
At a time when education budget cuts have eliminated many such tactile experiences for children, River KATS provides invaluable curriculum enrichment in multiple subjects, from environmental science to chemistry and biology.
“The program is pretty comprehensive,” said Inland Empire Waterkeeper associate director Megan Brousseau, who oversees River KATS. “[Students] get an overview of what a watershed is, what watershed they live in, and what their place is in it.”
River KATS participants learn about water’s journey from sewer systems and storm drains in their own communities all the way to the ocean, as well as learning about flora and fauna, local history, biodiversity and water science. This often includes a nature hike: “The fun thing was when we went to go hiking,” said Denise T., “because, once we were hiking, we actually got to experience all the animals and plants that live there and how they use the water to survive.”
Another student favorite is the live animal collection, which includes a leopard gecko, land and water turtles, snakes and even a tarantula. These animals help demonstrate lessons about introduced versus native species, but they also help the students make a personal connection: “Really what we want them to do is to have that emotional attachment that is inevitable when you’re with an animal,” said Brousseau, “and that will inspire them to make tough choices on behalf of these animals.”
Like the River KATS program, another Arrowhead brand-sponsored organization helps foster the next generation of water stewards: the Cucamonga Valley Water District (read more about their water stewardship efforts here). CVWD offers and sponsors a range of educational programs. CVWD offers a number of student education programs, including co-sponsoring a local team in the annual Metropolitan Water District’s Solar Cup Competition in which students build and race solar-powered boats. The district also offers tours of its state-of-the-art water treatment plant in Rancho Cucamonga.
“They actually provide a lot of opportunities for kids to serve and to get information, but they also are showcasing talent,” said ninth-grade science teacher Kathleen Diver, who has led Solar Cup teams from Rancho Cucamonga’s Los Osos High School for the past five years. “I’ve got a list of kids that have actually gone into some form of environmental science or material engineering based on some of their experience with Solar Cup.”
One of the things that Diver likes most about water stewardship lessons: They give kids the chance to make a real impact. “When you show a student a logical choice — things like fix a drip because it impacts how much money you’re spending, but also how much resources you’re wasting — those are the kinds of things, that, in the back of their heads, they’re going to address as they get older. They’re gonna say, ‘I see that drip. I’m going to turn it off. ... I think it’s going to have a lifelong impact.’”
Kids learning about watersheds during a CVWD activity
The CVWD water treatment plant campus also has an Environmental Learning Center and Learning Garden. “We bring first- through sixth-grade students through the Learning Center and they participate in a number of hands-on activities,” said CVWD communications and outreach manager Kristeen Farlow. The activities include adding a faux “pollutant” (such as a few teaspoons of cinnamon) to a model watershed and seeing how the pollutant infiltrates down into the underground aquifer, which demonstrates the effect that runoff like fertilizers and roadway grease have on groundwater resources.
Fostering the next generation of water stewards is central to the missions of both CVWD and the Arrowhead brand: to supply clean water to Californians.
“Water stewardship is a pillar of our company,” said Larry Lawrence, natural resource manager for the Arrowhead brand. “Even before it became fashionable to be a water steward, it was something we’ve done for decades.”
—Paul Rogers for Arrowhead® Brand 100% Mountain Spring Water