As part of the nonprofit Grade of Green’s Water Challenge for schools in January, students will have access to educational resources that will aid in their instruction about water conservation. Pictured is a graph that details the percentage of water available on Earth.
Long Beach Water announced this week that it is partnering with the nonprofit Grades of Green, an environmental and educational organization based in Los Angeles, to work with local schools and students in a water-challenge program that will analyze different strategies to reduce water consumption.
“The partnership perfectly supports our City’s focus on creating sustainable Long Beach lifestyles,” wrote Lana Haddad, director of Long Beach Water’s government and public affairs, in an emailed statement on Wednesday. “During the challenge, Long Beach students and families learn about their local water resources and ways to save water. Long Beach’s participating schools in the challenge will receive Long Beach-specific materials and messages to instill lifelong habits that make a water-wise future for our community.”
About 75 schools will participate from January to March in the Grades of Green Water Challenge program to conserve an estimated 900,000 gallons of water combined.
The schools have the liberty of incorporating the water-challenge study into their educational curriculum or as an after-school or extracurricular activity, according to Susan Warshaw, executive director of the nonprofit Grades of Green, in an email interview on Wednesday.
Grades of Green’s water challenge is building momentum from its pilot test of the program in the fall. Warshaw said an average of 300 gallons of water per student were conserved at home in one week this past semester.
In total, the pilot featured 10 schools— four of which were based in Southern California, including Long Beach— that conserved approximately 16 million gallons of water during a one-week measurement period, she said. The trial program allowed for the nonprofit to test the materials and methodology and adjust them for the winter and spring.
“Overall, the pilot supported our proof of concept, which we’d largely suspected would happen because the challenge is based on our successful Trash Free Lunch Challenge,” Warshaw said, referencing a year-long competition that challenges schools to reduce lunchtime waste. “[…] We learned that teachers and students loved that the program is student-led. […] Let students lead, and they will learn.”
She explained that with 75 schools participating in January at an average of 40 students per school, the three-month goal of 900,000 gallons of conserved water could conceivably be reached within only one week.
“That is a very conservative estimate, because it is only one week, and the students are adopting daily, sustainable habits,” Warshaw said. “[…] Additionally, there is the ripple effect of students influencing friends, extended family and their community.”
Once the challenge ends, students will share their findings through social media to the community and City government officials in a one-minute video that will highlight their results.
Warshaw said schools will compete for a $1000 education grant that will go toward water-conservation efforts on campus.
“The Long Beach Water Board of Commissioners is committed to establishing and maintaining close partnerships with local schools to help educate future generations of water users,” wrote Warshaw about the partnership with Long Beach Water. “Educating students early on about the importance of water enables them to be responsible users of water throughout their adult lives.”
Students in the program will adhere to the Eco Starter Kit, a package of resources provided by Grades of Green that consists of a handbook with instructions, a timeline for participating in the challenge, a banner that students sign to make a pledge to conserve water, lanyards for Grades of Green teams and, only in Long Beach, giveaways from Long Beach Water.
Students will also have free access to the Google Classroom library, a website-learning tool with databases of information. Warshaw said that participating institutions can connect with each other through Google Classroom’s online forums and ask questions.
“This will enable schools from different parts of the country and globe to share water information and learnings,” she said.
Additionally, webinars will be streamed online and present guidelines for the challenge to students.
Local schools interested participating in Grade of Green’s Water Challenge can register for free by Jan. 5 at bit.ly/2lkzmCT.
