Youth Water Awareness Day
Students trained in water conservation

A presenter from the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation speaks to junior high students on Thursday, May 3 during the McKinley County Youth Water Awareness Day, which was sponsored by the City of Gallup. More than 20 natural resource agencies sent presenters to the event, which is held annually to educate local students about the need to conserve and protect the area's water resources. [Courtesy Photo]

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff Writer

GALLUP — About 1,500 local students learned about the importance of water conservation and protection during last week's McKinley County Youth Water Awareness Day 2007.

The annual event, which is sponsored by the City of Gallup, was hosted by Gallup Junior High School on Wednesday and Thursday. According to Elizabeth Barriga, the city's water conservation coordinator, more than 300 fourth and fifth graders attended the Youth Water Awareness Day on Wednesday, and about 1,200 junior high students attended on Thursday. Barriga was hired by the city three years ago to promote a number of water conservation efforts both residentially and commercially, and to educate the local public about Gallup's water shortage.

Gallup relies on water from aquifers that are 900 to 3,000 feet deep, which are dropping at a rate of about 20 feet per year, said Barriga.

"It's a lot more expensive to get new water...,"she said,"than to conserve the water we have."

For residential customers, the city currently offers rebates to those who replace grass yards with xeriscape designs, who install rain barrels to catch water run-off from roofs, and who change out old toilets and shower heads for newer, low-flow models. For commercial customers, the city offers "audits" to show business owners how much money they can save by instituting water conservation methods.

Educating area youth at the annual Youth Water Awareness Day is one way the city is attempting to educate the public about the region's water problems. Barriga said she hopes the students left the event with the double environmental message that the existing water supply needs to not only be appreciated and conserved, but that it also needs to be protected from pollution. Barriga also hopes the students took those messages home to share with their families.

More than 20 presenters from natural resource agencies in New Mexico, Arizona, and the Navajo Nation made educational presentations on one or both days of the event, Barriga said. Topics included aquifers, watersheds, native plants and water conservation, overgrazing, erosion, groundwater pollution and more.

Live wildlife birds were brought to the event to emphasize the importance of clean water to wildlife, and about 500 students were able to take home 10 inch tall juniper seedlings after learning how to transplant and care for the young trees.

Gallup's Youth Water Awareness Day is modeled on the Middle Rio Grande Children's Water Festival in Albuquerque, and it uses Project WET activities. Barriga believes the event is an effective learning tool because it presents scientific information in a hands-on and fun way for students.

For more information about the City of Gallup's water conservation programs, contact Elizabeth Barriga at (505) 863-1393 or visit the city's Web site at www.ci.gallup.nm.us and click on the Gallup Joint Utilities Rebates and Programs link.