Quality Education iconClean Water and Sanitation icon

The Ripple Effect

2010 Calgary, Alberta, Canada


 Samantha Hans wanted to raise awareness of water challenges and planned a water conference for high school students.

A Water Conference for Youth by Youth was held on Wed. May 11, 2011. The day started with an introduction of UNA-Canada and The Ripple Effect project. The Calgary Current, the Youth Advocacy Group, presented to approximately 50 high school students and their teachers explaining what they do, why they do it, and why they enjoy their involvement in the project. The group of students was then split up into two groups to discuss the basics of water usage, conservation, Calgary’s Watershed and sustainability. After a quick snack the students were back to activities which included ‘water’ Family Feud, learning about the ‘water cost’ of daily items and an interactive guessing game where countries were compared based on their water usage.

Students designed their own water sustainability t-shirts, and participated in various other learning activities including a presentation from My World, My Choice followed by three speakers with a career spin on water issues. Students were exposed to government, NGO and corporate perspectives, offering them a broader sense of career opportunities than what they would find at a career fair. Speakers included a speaker from Alberta Wilderness Association, Nutrien, and the City of Calgary. The day was filled with engaging information and new perspectives on water sustainability that the students had never heard before. Positive feedback was received from both the students and teachers who attended the conference; The Youth Advocacy Group of Calgary Current was impressed with the student’s level of engagement and immensely enjoyed their mentoring role and experience.

 

Clean Water and Sanitation iconResponsible Consumption icon

Reduction of Water Consumption in Homes

2010 Milk River, Alberta, Canada

Tierra Maggrah from Erle Rivers High School discuss the problem of the amount of water consumption in Canadian households; her solution achieved one of the top ranks in the 2010 Caring for our Watershed Grade 7- 9 division.

Tierra Maggrah concerned about how much water the average household uses in Canada; specifically the quantity used in her community and wanted to do something about it.

Tierra knows that most people consume water by using it to maintain a nice yard, so she proposes that
a rain barrel be placed at each home which would be used to water plants.

Her proposition of using rain barrels to obtain water as an alternative to regular tap water is a solution to reduce the consumption of water in the household.

Tierra’s implementation plan involves the purchase of 30 rain barrels, of which 3 were raffled off at the Community Stewardship Forum.

The remaining 27 rain barrels were sold at a subsidized cost at the community forum to off-set the implementation cost.

 

Life Below Water iconLife on Land icon

Green is Great

2010 Milk River, Alberta, Canada

Sierra Harty, from Erle River High School, won first place at the 2010 Caring for Watershed (CFW)Grade 7-9 Division.
Sierra Harty noticed the deterioration of the riverbanks leading to the water at popular canoe entry sites along the Milk River. After consulting with the County, she determined that a path made up of crushed gravel and highlighted by signs would direct the flow of recreationists to stay on the path.

The path highlighted by signs directed the flow of traffic in and out of the river at two high traffic spots: Poverty Rock and Coffin Bridge. By keeping the recreationists stay on the path, it helps minimize the deterioration of the river banks, which leads to the popular canoe entry sites along the Milk River.

She created three trail signs, and worked with the County of Warner and MRWCC to develop key messages on the trail signs. Sierra also worked on the trail sign site logistics for relevant placements on the path.

 

Clean Water and Sanitation iconResponsible Consumption iconLife Below Water icon

Student Installs Bat Boxes and Bird Houses to Save the Bow River

2010 Calgary, Alberta, Canada

 Bat-Boxes3
Cam Reed, a senior at Centennial High School in Calgary, Alberta won first place in the 2010 Caring for our Watersheds (CFW) finals. Afterwards, Nutrien donated $4,000 to implement his idea.
Bat-Boxes2Bat-Boxes
The winning idea from Reed was to install bat boxes and bird houses on golf courses in the Calgary area as a natural pest control. His proposal had a realistic budget, accurate research and a strategic timeline for implementation. By the CFW finals, Reed already had golf courses committed to the project.

Reed worked with Nutrien, 8 local golf courses and community partners such as Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Calgary Bat Society to support this project.

After selecting the boxes, Cam worked with local Boy Scouts and his High School carpentry class to paint and assemble the boxes.

The following golf courses had boxes installed: Priddis Greens Golf & Country Club, Glencoe Golf & Country Club, McKenzie Meadows Golf Club, Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club, Maple Ridge Golf Course, Bearspaw Country Club, Canada Golf (RCGA) and Pinebrook Golf &Country Club.

Reed commented, “I’ve learned that golf courses aren’t the bad guys and they are very open to ideas to protect our watershed. And, my project was another way to add to their environmental stewardship.”

In addition to improving the watershed, Reed was offered a summer job at many of the golf courses. He accepted one and is looking forward to finishing his final year in school.

Life on Land icon

Battle River Photography Contest

2008 Strome, Alberta, Canada

Strome Junior High School students Brandon Miller and Briana Dewitz believed people would see the watershed differently when captured through the lens of a camera. Their winning Caring for our Watershed proposal idea was for a photography contest, with the winning photos being used in a calendar they would produce. The pictures were to be entered into and judged on 4 specific categories; watershed wildlife, people in nature, capture the river and the damage.
Continue reading…

Clean Water and Sanitation icon

Floating Classroom

2008 Strome, Alberta, Canada

Students from Strome Junior High wanted to get their classroom outside taking action for the Battle River. For their CFW Proposal they suggested having students at their school testing water quality to answer the question “How Healthy is the Battle River?”

After winning in the 2008 Central Alberta CFW contest, they decided to implement their idea- a “Floating Classroom”. The purpose of their project was to keep track of the health of the river. The students tested the water in June and September to monitor water quality over the year as well as over many years. The students liked the idea because “the students are active in the process and can understand what is happening by their own hands-on experiences.” As fluctuation occurs over the years they will be able to examine patterns or changes and chart what exactly is happening.

Their objectives were to get students involved in their watershed in an interesting and meaningful way, have fun with friends, see interesting things along the way, and do real science outside!

The students thought that the science data collected is important and they wanted their observations added to a data base that would, identify trends and changes in the health of the Battle River, and over time answer the question “How healthy is the Battle River?” They hoped that this information would create awareness, among students and community members and inform future projects while their students learned about ecosystem concepts, and enhanced their lab skills, and understanding of water quality analysis.

This project helped the environment by creating awareness, increasing student knowledge and understanding of the watershed, increasing their practical use of investigation skills and enabled them to participate in real science.

 

Renewable Energy iconInnovation and Infrastructure icon

Solar Panels on Camrose Composite High School

2007 Camrose, Alberta, Canada

Students Rob Grant, Emma Marentette, Heidi Johnson, Epiphany Spielman, and Morag MacMillan entered the Caring for our Watersheds contest from the Camrose Composite High School group Students for Environmental and Social Advocacy. With support from the school faculty and administration, as well as the Battle River Watershed Alliance Watershed Ambassador these students were able to turn their dreams into reality.

The dream was “Project Sustain”- a dream to have solar panels collecting the sun’s rays to supplement the non-renewable energy used by the school.

The group believed that solar energy is clean, emission free and does not require water from the Battle River to produce power. “We wanted to inspire other students at Camrose by showing that a “green” power source could make a big difference at the school” said Rob, the student coordinator of the project.

After winning 1st place in the senior high contest, the students used the $1000 award as well as money contributed from the school to purchase solar panels placed on the east side of the school’s gym wall. Since the contest the students collected more community contributions and installed close to $20,000 worth of solar collectors on the school’s roof.

“The students at Camrose continue to amaze me daily- their ideas inspire the school and the people of Camrose,” said Jim Ofrim, principal of Camrose Composite High School.