Student representatives from eight schools in APS (and one from Fulton County) gave Atlanta City Council their preliminary findings in the Be Water Wise Atlanta project sponsored by the National Environmental Education Foundation. Students mixed videos, poems and raps in with PowerPoint presentations as some of the council members observed.
It was certainly an educational experience, as students identified water-related issues at their school and then developed ways to conserve water. Bunche Middle School students kicked off the presentations. Some of the statistics were startling: according to research by the Carver School of Health Sciences & Research, Georgia uses 80 percent of the water from Lakes Lanier and Allatoona, and more to the point for the school, of its 45 water sinks, only 53 percent operated at what they determined to be an efficient level. Students from Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy said they are working with an Eco-Force Team that will work to provide more efficient water use on campus. Students from Therrell Educational Complex found 130 ways to improve water use, but, as one student comforted the audience, they offered only five easy steps for the purpose of its presentation (including the suggestion of collecting rainwater from drainage pipes to use to water plants).