New Mexico’s nickname, The Land of Enchantment, hints at the state’s scenic beauty and rich heritage. Located at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains, this high desert land features big sky, incredible mountains, high plateaus and mesas. It has been home to humans since prehistoric times. But New Mexico is also a land of contrasts. It is the fifth largest state with the third longest river system – the Rio Grande – but has the least surface water of all 50 U.S. states. Average annual precipitation ranges from 9” in Albuquerque to about 20” in the highest mountain elevations. Today, over half the state’s population -- about 800,000 residents -- live in or near Albuquerque and Rio Rancho. Over the next 30 years, New Mexico’s population is projected to grow from 1.9 million to 2.7 million – with 70% of the future population growth expected to live in the Rio Grande Basin. As populations have increased throughout the western U.S., competition for water resources has quickly followed. Drought and climate change add further stress to ground water and surface water supplies. At the same time, communities must meet rigorous federal and state requirements regarding surface water quality. In other words, both water conservation and water quality are now major issues for all New Mexicans. Water resource planning – including outreach in grades K-12 – is now a priority for many agencies. As part of this effort, Experiential EE, LLC has helped organizations plan and carry out various components of their K-12 outreach programs including children’s water festivals, in-class water resource education, the RiverXchange project, Project WET teacher professional development workshops, and a travelling water resources exhibit. As New Mexico communities strive to create and secure sustainable and clean water supplies, our children need to be well educated and informed about water issues so they will understand the trade-offs that may face them in the future and potentially threaten their quality of life. Our outreach projects help young people understand that water is an essential and limited resource. Students have fun while they learn what they can do to take personal action to conserve water and keep local water resources clean!
Since 2005, Experiential EE, LLC has worked closely with steering committees to produce children’s water festivals in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Santa Fe, including fundraising and all aspects of project management. Today, all three municipalities have taken a leadership role in the production of their own local festival. Experiential EE, LLC continues to provide festival project management and in-class water resource education presentations in grades 1-12 under contract to the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA). The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Children’s Water Festival is a two day, off site water resources event for fourth grade students and their teachers. The purpose is to improve water resources education at the elementary level by providing teachers with outreach opportunities, resources and materials. The goal is to lay the foundation so that students can synthesize specific water facts and begin to understand larger water questions and issues known as the Big Water Questions. Each year, at least 1000 students and 50 teachers from Albuquerque area schools participate in a day of activities that draw on a wide range of core curriculum areas to address water quality and water conservation issues, especially relating to their local communities. The event requires in-kind contributions from dozens of local organizations in the form of presenters, volunteers and teacher resource materials. These in-kind contributor organizations are listed on our Sponsors page. The festival is unique among children’s water festivals nationwide because of a robust evaluation program that includes pre- and post-festival student surveys, activity evaluations, teacher evaluations and presenter evaluations to improve the program. The results are published annually in the Annual Report, found on the Past Festivals page of this website. Beginning March 2010, Albuquerque area fourth grade teachers are to apply online to the festival through the ABCWUA website: http://www.abcwua.org/content/view/238/440/ For more information about the Santa Fe Children’s Water Festival, visit their website by clicking on this link: Santa Fe, NM - Official Website - 2009 Water Fiesta
In-class Water Resource Education Experiential EE, LLC implements a large in-class water resource education program under contract to ABCWUA, delivering about 600 hands-on presentations each year free of charge to Albuquerque area public, private and home school students in grades 1-12. To schedule an in-class presentation, email katie@experientialee.com, call 505-975-0036 or click on this link: http://www.abcwua.org/content/view/369/585/. For more information about ABCWUA’s comprehensive water resources education program, visit their website’s education page by clicking on this link: abcwua.org/content/view/369/585/.
RiverXchange RiverXchange is an innovative, long-term outreach project that motivates New Mexico fourth or fifth grade students and their teachers to protect local water resources by combining a year-long curriculum, computer technology and class partnerships from classes in other U.S. states or countries so that students become “high tech pen pals” to learn about each other’s river ecosystems. Participating classes learn about local water conservation and water quality issues through hands-on activities, participation in a field trip/service learning project, and by learning about water resources from guest lecturers. In addition, teachers learn to use water as a theme to teach standards and benchmarks for an entire semester or year. For more information about RiverXchange, click here. RiverXchange is a project of the New Mexico Water Conservation Alliance, a non-profit organization of individuals from municipal, industrial, institutional and commercial sectors who are dedicated to water conservation issues. The following organizations provided funding:
See our Sponsors page for a list of organizations providing in-kind support for RiverXchange.
2009 Children's Water Festival photo galleries:
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Children’s Water Festivals
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 Students learn about erosion in The Rolling River. |
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