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National Water Month - Organisers hail students’ involvement |18 April 2018

To emphasize the prominence of World Water Day, the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change (MEECC) in collaboration with other partners, organised a National Water Month which focused on the theme ‘Nature for Water: Exploring Nature based solutions to water challenges of the 21st century’. The Public Utilities Corporation’s (PUC) contribution towards the National Water Month was mostly geared towards school children. The activities were aligned to PUC’s ongoing campaign to sensitize members of the public about water -- this precious and often undervalued resource.

 

Word search puzzles competition

The word search puzzles competition organized in partnership with Mangroves for the Future, attracted the participation of some 30 participants. The four lucky winners are Hope Rusteau from Beau Vallon secondary, Lisa Gappy from Plaisance secondary, Jean-Yves Mancienne from Anse Royale secondary and Alicia Bonnelame from International School Seychelles. All four won a voucher for SCR500 worth of stationery. 

 

Fieldtrips

Other than this competition, PUC also organized field trips targeting primary and secondary school children on Praslin and La Digue, on March 16 and 17 respectively. While the La Digue students visited the treatment plant and participated in clean-up activities at the Grand Anse barrage, those on Praslin visited the Nouvelle Decouverte barrage and its treatment plant. The activities were aimed at informing the students about the importance of forest cover in improving the quality of water flowing through our rivers.

The most significant contribution of forest cover to water for all living things is in maintaining high water quality. They achieve this through minimizing soil erosion on site, thus reducing sediments in water bodies such as wetlands, streams and rivers, and through trapping or filtering other water pollutants. Trees and forests help slow down surface runoff, encouraging sediments and sediment-bound contaminants to settle before entering surface water.

Additionally, trees can trap windblown dust before it enters streams and rivers. Besides directly filtering the water before it enters streams from fields, some species of trees can also help indirectly by reducing evapotranspiration, thereby reducing needless loss of water.

The students’ attention was also drawn to the disastrous effects that the uncontrolled growth of invasive plant species such as ornamental plants can have on the quantity of water within the watershed, both through the additional uptake of water and the blocking of river channels, thereby reducing the flow of water downstream.

Take home lessons for both activities entailed responsible disposal of waste materials and benefits of reforestation especially upstream of PUC’s water barrages.

 

Launching of children’s activity book and workbook

PUC launched its children’s activity book and workbook on World Water Day (March 22). The handover ceremony was done at the Ecosystems Based Adaptation restoration site, Bougainville in the presence of the principal secretary for Energy and Climate Change, Mr Wills Agricole, representatives of the MEECC, UNDP, Baie Lazare Watershed Committee, Baie Lazare primary school, PUC and other invited guests.

The Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) and the steering committee members of the National Water Mont would like to extend its gratitude to all students who participated in the National Water Month activities.

 

 

 

 

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