Learn more about water resource
Hamilton City Council marked United Nations World Water Day last week to celebrate this precious resource, learn more about it and raise awareness around sustainability and climate change.
World Water Day is an annual UN observance marked on March 22 since 1993, to also raise awareness of the 2 billion people who live without safe access to water.
To mark the day, Smart Water, a partnership between Hamilton city, and Waipā and Waitomo district councils, is running a competition for schools to win a rainharvesting system to collect and reuse rainwater.
Hamilton City Council’s city waters unit manager Emily Botje says: “The impacts of climate change are going to stay with us, so it’s vital we continue to do all we can to use water mindfully throughout the whole year, and not just in the hotter summer months.”
Every year, the day has a theme. This year it’s
Groundwater — making the invisible visible.
Smart Water is running a competition and activity for schools to commemorate the day every year. This year’s activity is an experiment to demonstrate that only a small part of Earth’s water is freshwater. Smart Water provides participating schools with the materials to run the activity.
Participating schools have the chance to win a rainharvesting system that collects rainwater from the roof and stores it in two 250-litre barrels to be used to water outside areas.
There are also prize packs for two runner-up classes.
To enter the competition schools are asked to create a mini video of the class demonstration. To find out more and register at smartwater.org.nz/ teach-about-water/schools/ unwwd/. Registrations close on April 12.
For more information on water, go to smartwater.org.nz, or keep up with the latest updates from the council through the Antenno app.
Meanwhile, Matamatapiako District Council announced the district would drop water restriction levels to level 2. This means residents whose street address number is even should use sprinklers and garden irrigation systems on days with even dates and odd letterbox numbers can water on days with odd dates.
The council had been in level 3, sprinkler ban, for eight weeks, and while the district dropped a level, the water supply was still under pressure, the council’s water and wastewater manager, Karl Pavlovich, says.
“We really appreciate people following the restrictions because it makes a big difference. In this case, the water-saving efforts by residents happened to combine with some more rain, and temperatures lowering a little.
“That’s helped to reduce the water demand, and has meant the water supply is now better able to keep pace with current demand.”