With over five million people without access to clean water, there is no denying that South Africa like many countries in the world is a water stressed country. Access to clean drinking water underpins everything in society and just this year, in the grip of a devastating drought, our ground water that is the main supply to Loskop school, Phumelelani has dried up causing chaos in the school routine.

“Water is our number priority, but unfortunately some people do not share this sentiment and that’s why it’s important to teach children from a young age to importance of this finite resource,” says Sebezinhle Mbele, head Eco-School teacher from Phumelelani Primary School.

Phumelelani Primary School is just one of the eight schools in the area who have embraced the WESSA Water Explorer Programme this year, giving opportunity and an incentive to practice sustainable water management and be recognised and rewarded for their efforts.

Essentially, the Water Explorer Programme is an online fun, inspiring and educational programme that empowers students to lead joint action on water issues. The international programme supported by GAP UK and funded by HSBC, enables schools to earn points as they complete a variety of water challenges.

Through their efforts to manage their water more wisely, they stand to win many appropriate prizes to assist them in achieving their water goals. The enthusiasm for this programme is infectious with as many as 230 are participating in South Africa.

As water is intricately linked to all areas of conservation and society, the online challenges and newsreel used to document their work has given the schools have yet another platform to synchronise and report of their other eco-activities.

Siyabongile Ngcobe, a teacher from Bambanani School, said that although her school has no access to computers and the internet this hasn’t stopped them from doing the challenges and “filling up their reservoir’ with the “on deck” assistance of WESSA Water Explorer facilitator, Julia Colvin. “We cannot pretend this water issue isn’t happening and our time to act is already long overdue.

“We are fortunately enough to live in a water shed area, essentially a water factory whose major rivers provides over 70 percent of population needs.

“What we do upstream, effects the rest of us that use the water downstream.”

This year the Water Explorer Programme has offered some unexpected but welcomed surprises. Both Phumulelani Primary and Bambanani Primary schools won R4 200 toward a water festival that could be used not only to showcase their great water work but in the case of Bambanani, the installation of a new JoJo tank and seedlings to support their nutritional programme.

Under the Fresher Water Challenges, Eqhweni Combined, Muntuza Full service school and Bambanani Primary have be activity monitoring their nearest river using a mini SASS tool, looking at macro-invertebrate life as a clue to the health of catchments.

Muntuza Full Service School was chosen to represent their work at a DWS/ Water Research Commission competition in Johannesburg placing third on a national level and winning R20 000 towards much needed resources at their school.

In October, Phumelelani Primary was nominated as Water Explorer school of the month and won a Canon camera to help document their water saving efforts, which includes washing school cutlery in basins and using the grey water in the garden, using tippy taps to wash hands and using buckets and cups for drinking out of, repairing leaky taps and collecting grey water from home to irrigate their water wise gardens.

For more information and to register your school/team for free visit www.waterexplorer.org or contact julia@wessa.org.za