Great Western Institute's Contribution to Local Conservation Education

Coyote Gulch reported about Castle Pines North Metro District's water conservation education efforts by repeating a story from YourHub.com. YourHub wrote:

"In a bold move the Castle Pines North Metro District (CPNMD) has challenged each of their 3500 customers and 30 HOAs to "Get WARPed." WARP stands for the Water Awareness and Responsibility Program, a public education program designed to increase water conservation awareness. According to CPNMD district manager, Jim McGrady, "By getting WARPed, the citizens of Castle Pines North (CPN) can help achieve a more secure future for the community."

"CPN is one of many Douglas County communities whose water is derived solely from non-renewable wells which experts predict by 2022 will no longer meet demand. Through water conservation and conscientious use of current supplies, the citizens of CPN can help keep water costs to a minimum and assure an adequate water supply for the future. While the CPNMD works to identify alternative sources of water, the citizens of the community can to do their part to conserve the resources we already have. As CPN resident April Parcells put it, "Conservation is our cheapest source of new water." Since the initial WARP rollout in April, the WARP team has shared water conservation messages with over 3,000 children in the CPN area through school assemblies, classroom presentations, email blasts, and school web sites. Students completed hundreds of conservation activity sheets, coloring contest entries, and tested their toilets for leaks with kits provided by the CPNMD."

What was not included in the story was that Great Western Institute's Executive Director, Tracy Bouvette, provided educational resources and class time in support of CPN's efforts. Since promoting water resources conservation is integral to the mission of his organization, the support was given to CPN free of charge. Over the course of two days in April, Mr. Bouvette appeared in front of over 400 school aged children, teaching a hands-on understanding of where our water comes from, how much water each of us use, and how we can effectively conserve. In addition, Mr. Bouvette provided CPN with trivia questions for their middle and high school student competitions.

Mr. Bouvette also appeared at the Water Festival held by Northglenn, Thornton, and Westminster in May. Once again, he provided engaging hands-on educational exchanges with over 200 5th grade students, discussing everything from the source of our water, to what happens after we flush our toilets, to the benefits of knowing how to turn off our sprinkler controlers.

Great Western Institute applauds the efforts of CPN, Northglenn, Thornton and Westminster, and hopes to help support other local and regional K-12 educational efforts in the future. These are just the types of activities that informed citizens need to have available to them, such that future sustainable communities can be formed and maintained.