School takes part in Water Day

Pretty Beach Public School took part in Water Aid Australia's "Buckets of Gold Into Water" appeal on World Day for Water last Wednesday, March 22.

"Nestled between the bush and bay, Pretty Beach Public School has become a beacon school for environmental education and has embraced Gosford Council's environmental education theme for 2006 'Water is Life'," said council's water communications officer Ms Laura Clyne.

"Water quality is essential to the local community so every student at the school is happy to donate a gold coin to support the annual Water Aid Australia 'Buckets of Gold' initiative."

Pretty Beach Public School principal Ms Vicki Redrup said the school wanted to help highlight the plight of millions of children around the world who do not live with safe, clean drinking water.

"The children at Pretty Beach know how lucky they are to live in such a beautiful pristine environment which is why we've participated in previous Gosford Council Schools Environmental Awareness Programs," Ms Redrup said.

"We use water auditing as a fascinating way to teach the children about their water usage.

"We also regularly monitor the quality of water in our local waterways as part of our environment education program.

"We're really looking forward to putting into place some of the ideas contained in the Water Aid Australia resource kit."

Ms Clyne said Water Aid Australia's aim was to raise money in order to get safe water close to people's homes.

"At the moment there are about 1.1 billion people in our world living without clean water," Ms Clyne said.

"According to Water Aid Australia, a child dies every 15 seconds from diseases associated with contaminated water.

"Not only that, children in Africa and Asia are often responsible for collecting water, sometimes several kilometres away.

"This affects their physical development and playtime and can even prevent them going to school."

Gosford Council's Sustainability Officer and coordinator for the Schools Awareness Program Ms Maree Whelan said: "It's great to see local schools, such as Pretty Beach, getting involved with sustainability issues such as this.

"There really is hope for the future if we are prepared to educate our children about the environment in their own backyard and beyond."

For more information about WaterAid Australia's 'Buckets of Gold Into Water' appeal, visit www.wateraid.org/australia/learn_zone.

Press release, March 21 Laura Clyne, Gosford Council