Point learner 3rd in WC Water contest
A learner from Point High School in Mossel Bay has won a third place in a Western Cape provincial competition.
Rossouw Gericke, in Grade 10, took part in the awareness category of the contest, with a project titled, “Where did the fish go?”
This entry highlighted the negative impact of nitrites and phosphates on the water of the Hartenbos River.
In a statement, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) said that on Saturday, 27 April, DWS held the provincial leg of the South African Youth Water Prize (SAYWP) competition in George.
The launch took place at the DWS offices in York Street.
During the competition, schools from across the Western Cape competed against one another in two categories, awareness and invention.
In the awareness category, each competitor presented ideas on how they could increase awareness about a particular problem, while in the invention category, they found a new solution or improved on existing ones.
Each competitor was given a task to identify a problem related to water and sanitation in their schools or community. Once they identified the problem, they had to initiate a project, do their research and recommend a solution.
Point High and Heatherlands High School in George are no strangers to this competition. Last year Point High won the provincial section and a year before, Heatherlands won the national competition and went on to compete in Stockholm, Sweden.
Outeniqua High
Second place went to Grade 11 learner, Janelle Greyling from Outeniqua High, also in George. Her invention, titled “Passive water harvesting in an informal settlement”, will collect rainwater in informal settlements
and reuse it for different purposes.
Amyoli Pita and Rashieda Bezuidenhout, in Grades 10 and 11 respectively, and their mentor, Marissa Murphy from Heatherlands, won gold in the invention category.
Under the guidance of their teacher, the pair came up with an invention called "Drop the waste", a possible solution that will extract water from waste so that the water can be used again.
According to the Water Department’s Elaine Ontong, no details about their invention may be shared with the public until the national competition has taken place.
“If anyone knows about their invention before the national competition, it would compromise their chances of winning,” explained Ontong.
Winners walked away with R11 000, R9 000 and R7 500 respectively and the first prize winner will join winners from all other provinces in the national competition on 6 June in Gauteng.