National Water Week and Water Night
On average Australian’s reach for their taps 16 times a day and are running their taps for 12.2 billion minutes a week.* Which is a lot of water going down the drain!
From October 17 to 23 it’s National Water Week and residents and children can take part in a number of water saving activities to help conserve our precious resource.
1. You can sign-up and take part in Water Night on Thursday, October 21, and see if you can avoid using your taps for 12 hours. By taking part it will help you and your family be more mindful of turning on the tap, and you will also go into the draw to win some great water efficient prizes. Visit www.waternight.com.au to sign up.
2. Students can take part in council’s water wise drawing competition. It’s open to kindergarten to year three students and year four to year six students and the winner of each category will win a water saving pack for their entire class. (See entry details below)
3. Residents and businesses can sign up to council’s free myh2o website (www.myh2o.qld.gov.au) and keep track of how much water you’re using each day, how much it’s costing you, put plans in place to save and be alerted to water leaks straight away.
Water is such a precious commodity and it’s important we are all conscious of how often we reach for our taps.
On average in the Mackay region we use about 191 litres of water per person per day, which equates to 5,400 Olympic sized swimming pools each year.
National Water Week is the perfect opportunity for everyone to monitor their water use and think of ways to save.
Some simple water saving tips include keep showers to four minutes or less, turn off taps when washing your hands, fix dripping taps and only water outdoors every second day before 10am after 4pm.
Parents and teachers can access fantastic Water Night activities on the Water Night website at www.waternight.com.au/resources/
* Research commissioned by not-for-profit Smart Approved WaterMark and conducted by YouGov
Schools colouring competition
To enter, simply have your students colour the appropriate activity sheet and write their name, year level and school, on the back. Mail entries by Friday November 29, 2021 to:
Water Education Officer
Jubilee Community Centre
PO Box 41
Mackay QLD 4740
Or deliver in person to the Jubilee Community Centre, next to the MECC, on Alfred St. Please also include a school contact with your entries.
Entries will be judged, and winners informed, by November 12, 2021.
There will be one winner in the junior age group (Kindy to Year 3), and one in the senior age group (Year 4 to Year 6). Each winner will receive a water saving pack for each of their classmates, containing a tap timer, shower timer, water bottle, pencil, activity sheets, and stickers in a reusable calico bag.
Download the colouring sheets here: