What is World Water Day?

World Water Day is an annual celebration of water started by the United Nations in 1993. This campaign seeks to raise awareness of the 2 billion people on our planet currently living without access to safe water.

This event takes place every year on March 22. The focus is to inspire action towards the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goal #6: Water and sanitation for all by 2030.

How can your library get involved?

We are Water is a collaborative project led by the Education & Outreach program at the University of Colorado’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences in partnership with the Space Science Institute’s STAR Net team.

Theis project started with the hope that we could create a place where those who live in the Four Corners Region of the Southwestern U.S. could find resources and a community of people to share stories about what water means to them.

We invite you to share resources, activities, and learning experiences with your patrons in celebration of World Water Day! Check out the featured resources below to engage your community:

 

Take & Make Kits

Waffle Gardens: Sustaining Life in the Desert (Spanish Version)
Waffle Gardening is a technique developed centuries ago by Indigenous Peoples of the American southwest and is still used today as an effective method of growing food in arid environments.

Be a Water Detective (Spanish Version)
Print this field notebook and purchase pH strips to offer your patrons a Take & Make activity where they can explore the water quality of their home and community. The notebook includes additional activities, such as a crossword puzzle and art project!

We are Water Coloring & Activity Book
The coloring and activity book includes Southwest themed coloring pages, Color by Number, I Spy games and Word Search Games.

 

Featured Hands-On Activities

Who Dirtied the Water: A Role-Playing Activity
Ages: Pre-K through upper elementary and families
Participants take turns adding pollutants to a gallon jar of water (which symbolizes a local body of water) as the facilitator reads a story about water pollution. Pair this activity with Low-Tech Water Filter for High-Impact Clean to “treat” your polluted water!

Imaginary River Trip
Ages: Pre-K through early elementary
Go on an imaginary river trip during your story time! Patrons learn about the plants and animals of the Four Corners Region by viewing pictures and listening to a story guided by the facilitator.

Water Cycle Relay Race
Ages: Upper elementary, tweens, and families
Have fun learning outdoors with your patrons by playing a relay race vocabulary game!

Precipitation Towers
Ages: Upper elementary and tweens
Participants create 3D graphs using stackable cubes, such as Legos, to observe and compare precipitation levels from several different locations.

Trees: Recorders of Climate Change
Ages: Upper elementary, tweens, teens, and families
Patrons examine the cross section of a tree and discover how climate conditions of the past can be determined by the thickness of the tree rings.

 

Adult and Teen Programming

Certificate of Participation:
https://www.starnetlibraries.org/2020/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/World-Water-Day-2022-Certificate-of-Participation.pdf

Follow We Are Water
Newsletter Signup:
https://www.starnetlibraries.org/about/our-projects/we-are-water/#newsletter-signup

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/WeAreWaterSW

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/WeAreWaterSW