Ten primary schools in the municipalities of Bernheze, Maashorst and Heusden participate in the first water race in Brabant. A competition that is held in the Aa en Maas water board. Pupils collect points for a month by carrying out assignments where they deal with water in the house and outside smarter, more economical and more sustainable.
“At the water race, children learn everything about water quality, weather extremes and water use. They also get to work themselves to come up with solutions for water problems and investigate the water in the neighborhood,” says Linda van Riel, teacher of primary school De Bolderik in Heeswijk-Dinther. “These children can do very well”out of the box“Thinking, so maybe there are very good ideas for the future.”
On a table in the classroom, Luuc is working on a few other children to come up with a new water -rich environment where they can live in the future. “We want to make rivers to the houses, then you can also sail through the village with a boat,” says Luuc, indicating what it will look like. “Here, in a kind of pit, there will also be a football field where water runs when it rains a lot.” There is also a lot of tables on the other tables.
At a ditch next to the school, other children are busy cleaning up junk and investigating how cloudy the water is. Teun sits on his squat on the waterfront and measures how deep a shiny disc is still visible in the water. “Up to forty -five centimeters, that is quite clear,” concludes Teun. “I just see the bottom there,” adds Thomas.
If he wants to measure a little further, Thomas is less lucky. The string breaks and the disc disappears in the depth.
Build a bridge to look at frogs
Tosia and her girlfriends are mainly concerned that the water becomes more and more dirty. “It is very important that the water is clean. We have stones, wood and sand here and with that we are going to build a bridge so that you can look at the frogs. Those natural materials are better than plastic,” says Tosia, showing their design on the table.
With all kinds of projects, the participating schools can collect points for the water race. They also involve parents and the environment, for example by cleaning up waste together by a river or ditch. They also get points for that.
On Thursday, April 17, the award ceremony is: the class that has collected the most points with the assignments wins an outing with the whole class.
Water race
At the end of 2023 the first Water Race was organized in collaboration with Waternet. It was such a success that the Aa and Maas water board is now organizing it in Brabant for the first time.
The brand new water race teaches the children and everyone who participates the importance of sustainable interaction with our water. It is a playful and challenging project for primary school classes from groups 6 to 8.