Students highlight water scarcity at World Water Day event at Gougane Barra

Over 90 students and teachers from Cork city and county went to Gougane Barra recently to celebrate World Water Day.

This year’s ‘Walk for Water’ event was organised by Green-Schools and Irish Water in a bid to raise awareness of the need to sustainably manage this precious resource.

The students – which included pupils from Hamilton High School, in Bandon,
 
Scoil Réidh na nDoirí and Bishop McEgan College in Macroom, as well as Blarney Street CBS –walked five kilometres carrying as much water as they could.

Some carried as much as six litres in a bid to highlight water scarcity, and to experience the journey some women and children have to undertake every day in the developing world in order to access clean water.

The theme for this year’s event was ‘Groundwater - Making the Invisible Visible’ and, at Gougane, the students learned what they can do to help ensure a clean water supply is available globally.

They learned how to construct a ‘tippy tap’ which is a hand-made device for washing hands with running water.

At a time when hand washing is more important than ever, the students constructed their own tippy taps using sticks, stones, some string, and an empty bottle.

‘Helping the next generation to understand that the importance of conserving water is a key part of our role in safeguarding Ireland’s water supply,’ said Brendan English, Irish Water’s regional communications specialist.

‘Walk for Water is a creative way for the students to understand that clean water is a precious resource and that we all need to take action to conserve it,’ he added.