Experiential EE, LLC oversees the planning, implementation and evaluation of Children’s Water Festivals and other water resources-related outreach in the Albuquerque and Rio Rancho areas of New Mexico. Each children’s water festival is a two day, off site, water education event that targets fourth grade students and their teachers. Our mission is to improve water resources education at the elementary level by providing local teachers with educational outreach opportunities, resources and materials. The goal of the festival and other outreach is to lay the foundation so that students can successfully answer Big Water Questions by the time they finish elementary school. Each year, about 1000 students and 50 teachers from Albuquerque schools, and approximately 650 students and 35 teachers from Rio Rancho schools, participate in five hands-on 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. Our festivals are unique among Children’s Water Festivals nationwide in that we use pre- and post-festival student surveys, activity evaluations, teacher evaluations and presenter evaluations to improve our program. The results are published annually in each Annual Report, found on the Past Festivals page of this website. In addition, due to exceptional funding for the past several years, we were able to provide free Project WET teacher professional development, classroom outreach in all fourth grade classes in Rio Rancho that did not attend the Rio Rancho water festival, and the innovative RiverXchange Project. Through RiverXchange, fourth grade classes in New Mexico are partnered with fourth grade classes throughout the U.S.
2008 Albuquerque Bernalillo County Children’s Water Festival photo gallery
Our festivals and outreach programs seek to provide high quality, effective water resource education so that participants come to understand that water is an essential and limited resource for all living things. Students have fun while they learn what they can do to protect and conserve water. Our programs encourage participants to take action to conserve water and keep local water resources clean! The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Children’s Water Festival is funded in total by the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority. In addition, Experiential EE provides in-class water resource education presentations in grades 1-12 on behalf of the water utility authority. For more information about the water utility authority’s comprehensive water resources education program, visit their website’s education page: abcwua.org/content/view/369/585/. The Children’s Water Festivals and Outreach Program 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. Funding and in-kind contributions from many organizations enable the following projects/events to occur: · Rio Rancho Children’s Water Festival
Patrons and Major Donors:
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The fact is, New Mexico is a desert with an increasing population. The many water demands may soon threaten our quality of life. In only eight years, all fourth graders will become decision makers and voters. They need to be well educated and informed about water and water issues to understand the trade-offs that will face them. 
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 Students learn about erosion in The Rolling River. |
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