Vision

To conserve water by adding a rain barrel to our school’s greenhouse and garden area.
To demonstrate to students that water conservation can be low-tech and simple.
To demonstrate to students that water supply is not a simple matter of turning on the tap in many parts of the world.

Action

Our Action Project added an eavestrought, downspout and a rain barrel to our current greenhouse to collect rainwater for use in watering the gardens throughout the summer months. This project includes a hand crank pump and a 50′ hose to move water from the barrel to its needed places.

Why:
Fortunately, in most parts of Canada, the water supply is plentiful and often taken for granted. Occasionally, with droughts and flooding in various regions (due in no small part to climate change), water supply becomes unsafe or unavailable. The Council of Canadians reports that 73% of First Nations water systems are at high or medium risk of contamination, and 34 reserves have been under long-term drinking water advisories. UNICEF notes that nearly two-thirds of the world’s population experience water scarcity at least one month a year.

Our project collects rainwater in a cost-effective and efficient manner and demonstrates that we can avoid the faucet and city water supplies to meet some needs. The inclusion of a hand-crank pump and hose adds an additional aspect to the project. It permits students and users to recognize the challenges water delivery presents in many parts of the country and the world. The majority of Canadians’ ability to “turn on the tap” and furnish their water needs nearly instantly is not a fact for much of the world’s population and water transport is a difficulty that demands a lot of human labour and ingenuity. The hand crank pump permits our urban student population to experience, in a very small way, what many children in communities the world over face in their everyday lives.