Wyrallah Road Public wins Schools Water Challenge

WYRALLAH Road Public School is better prepared than ever to ride out the current dry spell after being named winner of the $2000 LCC Schools Water Challenge.

Lismore mayor Jenny Dowell, Council's Water Education Officer Danielle McAtee and Rous Water's Barbara Jensen with Wyrallah Road Public School students and staff after they were announced the Schools Water Challenge winner for 2012 at the Lismore Show on Friday.

WYRALLAH Road Public School is better prepared than ever to ride out the current dry spell after being named winner of the $2000 Lismore City Council Schools Water Challenge at Lismore Show.

The Lismore City Council Schools Water Challenge, supported by Rous Water, is designed to teach students to respect this precious resource and be conscious about how we use it.

As part of the competition, each of the nine participating primary schools - Lismore Heights, Goonellabah, Bexhill, Corndale, Caniaba, Lismore South, The Channon, Wyrallah Road Public and Tuntable Falls Community School - had a number of components to complete throughout the year.

This included the Rous Water M.A.D (make a difference) water team program, whereby students conduct a check-up of their school, auditing water use, conservation and wastage and identifying a list of ways to save water, be it through introducing dual flush toilets, replacing bubblers or installing a rainwater tank.

Students were also asked to write a poem about water, design a poster, and put together a performance or presentation to put before a panel of judges on why their school deserved the $2000 prize money.

"It feels amazing," said Year 6 Wyrallah Road student Tim Anderson, clutching the $2000 novelty cheque. "We put in nearly a whole year, spending time every week on the project, so it feels great to win. For the judges we did a play and a multimedia presentation," he said. "It was really fun."

The second prize of $500 went to Lismore Heights Public School while Goonellabah Public School was presented with the $250 third prize. All schools that participated received $250 to implement water-saving measures and a trailer load of mulch to use on their school gardens.

Winners of the poster competition were also announced at the awards ceremony with Lilly Nossiter from Goonellabah Public School winning the $100 primary prize and Poppy Schofield from Bexhill Public School winning the $50 junior primary prize.

Council's Water Education Officer Danielle McAtee said the competition is a really effective educational tool to teach children water awareness.

"The MAD water team activity gives students the opportunity to discover simple ways that they can save water in their schools and empowers them to help make these actions happen," she said.

"There is no better time than now, when we're experiencing such dry weather, for kids to learn the benefit of conserving what water we have. It's a great competition because it's resulting in real and lasting changes within school communities."