It is hard to imagine a world without an abundance of clean, fresh water. To many young people, water is a hot shower or something you put in a squirt gun for rip roaring fun. At the end of the day, however, water means so much more. Safe, accessible fresh water is essential to a healthy life.
The goal of the Water Environment Federation (WEF) is to ensure clean water for all. Since 1928, WEF has been committed to providing water quality professionals with access to the best science, engineering, and technical practices. The veteran organization also understands the importance of engaging teachers, students, and citizens in protecting and preserving local and global water resources.
YES! recommends Water Environment Federation for forging partnerships with grassroots and educational associations, such as Project WET and the National Science Teachers Association to develop a of water-related classroom resources. These materials offer your students brilliant opportunities to learn about and engage in the science, environmental, and social aspects of water quality.
World Water Monitoring Day: September 18
See website: World Water Monitoring Day
Together with the International Water Association, WEF coordinates World Water Monitoring Day to bring awareness and engage local citizens to protect their local waterways. This simple but significant activity gathers people across the globe to monitor conditions of nearby rivers, streams, estuaries, and other bodies of water. Though the official day is September 18, your students can test their local waters anytime between March 22 through December 31. Last year, over 120,000 people in 81 countries participated.
How to register your water site and purchase a monitoring kit.
VISIT: Getting Involved!
Key questions to guide your students' observations, and, ultimately, protect their local stream, river, or lake.
VISIT: Observation Guidelines
VISIT: Stockholm Junior Water Prize
The Stockholm Junior Water Prize is perhaps the most prestigious youth award for a water-related science project. The international contest for high school students spotlights their research papers on innovative solutions to today’s water challenges. Projects focus on local, regional, national, or global issues. It is essential that all projects use a research-oriented approach, which means they must use scientifically accepted methodologies for experimentation, monitoring, and reporting, including statistical analysis.
State winners and their science teachers are flown to the national competition. The U.S. winner competes with national winners from 30 other countries for the international honors during World Water Week, September 5-11, in Stockholm.
Criteria and Guidelines
Unlike other science competitions, the Stockholm Junior Water Prize weighs the quality of the scientific research paper much more heavily than how it is visually presented.
VISIT: Criteria and Guidelines
Deliberation and deadline details vary by state for this spring competition.
VISIT: Eligibility and Entry
See website: WEFTeach
Each year, WEF presents a workshop at the National Science Teachers Association’s annual national conference. WEFTeach, a “train the teachers” program, makes water education accessible to thousands of teachers and students each year. Its materials are downloadable and free online to teachers across the country. This year’s workshop, Stream Assessment: An active, integrated approach to science learning, features hands-on experiments and easy-to-follow lesson plans on the chemical, biological, and geophysical assessment of stream water quality. The curricula is for middle and high school students.
More Water Environment Federation resources: