Pilot program teaches Bay Area high schoolers about local water sources
A pilot program is providing Bay Area high school students with lessons on the importance of where their local water comes from, the systems that bring it to their homes, and the threats to the supply.
Four years ago, East Bay native Nina Gordon-Kirsch stuffed a backpack, laced up her shoes, and started on a 240-mile trek from Oakland to Highland Lakes near Ebbets Pass in the Sierra Nevada. Her goal was to trace the source of her drinking water and to inspire her students to know more about their local drinking water and to think about conservation.
Today her journey continues in Oakland classrooms as Gordon-Kirsch heads up a pilot program for Bay Area high school students. The pilot program was funded by Alameda County's Clean Water Program, the East Bay Municipal Utilities District, and donors.
Gordon-Kirsch recently visited Coliseum College Prep Academy in Oakland to teach a few dozen 9th graders in teacher Madison Moore's classroom, who was thrilled.
"So, they're learning about Oakland water. They're not learning about how water systems work in Asia or Europe," Moore said. "They're learning about water systems specifically where they live."
"This is a dream come true," enthused Gordon-Kirsch. "It was my dream when I was actually doing the walk four years ago to talk to Bay Area students about where their water comes from, and now, it's actually happening."
Gordon-Kirsch is partnering with the local nonprofit Rivers for Change. The nonprofit's mission is to change the way people think about and interact with water.
"The earlier the better that you can connect people to their water, to their river systems, understand holistically how they 're connected to a larger ecosystem and how they're connected to each other as communities upstream and downstream of each other," explained Danielle Katz, co-founder and director of Rivers for Change.
Students learn how their water travels from the Sierra Nevada through reservoirs, pipes and aqueducts to finally end up in their homes. They also learn about pollution.
Gordon-Kirsch used a special 3D model of a town made by Virginia-based EnviroScape, where students simulated a rainstorm with spray bottles. The model shows how stormwater washes everyday pollutants found on the roads to the farms into the town's rivers and streams.
Students like Mohammed Mohsen and Edson Barbosa soaked it all in.
"Like yesterday when I went home and washed the dishes, I didn't really like use as much water because I'm, like, wow, I don't want to waste it anymore," exclaimed Barbosa.
"As a person living in the Bay, I want to know where my water comes from and I want to make sure it's clean so that I don't get sick," added Mohsen.
As for Gordon-Kirsch, while her journey four years ago might have ended at Highland Lakes, her lessons are only just beginning.
Bay Area teachers are interested in adopting the curriculum can fill out a form at the Rivers for Change website.
