National Water Week: 19-25 October 2020
Australia gets a whole week to build awareness around the value of water: National Water Week, coordinated by the Australian Water Association (AWA), was created to remind us how hugely important access to clean water is to our daily lives. Most importantly, that it’s down to all of us to protect our water resources and use them wisely.
The theme for 2020 is Reimagining our Water Future – as our population grows and puts more stress on our water resources we will need to reimagine how we use and reuse water to ensure there’s enough for future generations, while preserving our natural systems, trees, and animals.
Think you’re already across it? Not sure how many times a day you reach for the tap? The sign up to Water Night challenge – between 5pm to 5am on Thursday 22 October – and see if you can use one bucket of water ONLY (not taps, no showers, no running water).
A number of other events are being held during National Water Week to get us inspired, including:
- WaterAid‘s Walk for Water (19-23 October 2020, you can now sign up to Walk, Run, or Ride over 5 days, and fundraise to help WaterAid reach people all over the world with clean water);
- 2020 WA Water Awards Dinner (Friday 23 October 2020, at The Ritz-Cartlton, Perth with a keynote address by water innovator & Founder of Water Foundry Will Sarni. WaterAid‘s annual Wine Wall lucky dip & raffle will one again feature.);
- IXOM 2020 Best Tasting Tap Water Competition (Wednesday 21 October 2020, while WA’s winner has already been announced – Yalgoo WTP in the Murchison region, Water Corporation – samples can still be sent to WIOA in Victoria for the national competition!);
- National Water Week Short Film Competition (closing Friday 6 November 2020, open to all primary & high school students across Australia to create their own 2 minute short films & win one of two $250 prizes!); and
- Online Learning Festival (19-25 October 2020, the program bring together a collection of free online events, virtual tours, printable resources, and on-demand videos to make National Water Week 2020 a week of fun and learning for students big & small).
AWA also has a list of water resources, including information on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, Indigenous water, the water cycle, flushing water and caring for our catchments, and much more.
So start preparing, think about the events you want to get involved in, and do your reading – working together is the only way to better manage our precious water!
