CHARLESTON, W.Va. – In an effort to enrich students’ understanding of the importance of clean water, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) is hosting a water education event for area grade schools on World Water Day, Wednesday, March 22.
Fourth-graders from Malden, Marmet and Belle elementaries will visit WVDEP headquarters in Charleston to interact with agency experts and other volunteers through innovative, hands-on presentations designed to heighten the students’ knowledge of the water around them, its usage, threats to its viability and actions they can take to protect it.
Among the topics to be covered are air and water; aquatic life, featuring live insects; flooding and watershed protection; water conservation and groundwater. Students also will learn about green infrastructure through an up-close look at the WVDEP’s rain garden, which filters polluted stormwater runoff from the agency’s parking lot.
The event is being hosted by the WVDEP’s Youth Environmental Program and Project WET (Water Education Today) with a focus on the 2023 World Water Day theme, “Accelerating Change.”
World Water Day is an annual United Nations’ observance, coordinated by UN-Water. Its goals include to raise awareness and inspire action to take on water and sanitation issues around the globe.