Students in Pueblo learn about water

Last winter may have been a wet one in most of Southern Colorado, but water is still a precious resource in our area.

Nearly 2,000 students in Pueblo learned that lesson today.

Michelle Buttram and Izaiah Padilla are discovering how important something that many of us take for granted really is.

“We’ve been…learning…how water gets polluted and how you can conserve water,” said Michelle.

But they’re not in their usual classrooms.

Instead, both Izaiah and Michelle were at the 2016 Water Festival in Pueblo.

They were among the nearly 2,000 students who invaded the CSU-Pueblo campus.

“We have fifth-graders from (Pueblo) District 60 and (Pueblo) District 70 and private schools,” said Toni Gonzales of the Pueblo Board of Waterworks.

The students had a chance to see displays and presentations on how water affects their daily lives.

Gonzales said, “They get to see how the city is run underground. They see how things are run above ground.”

With water issues in the headlines thanks to the new Southern Delivery System, water is an even more important topic of conversation than ever.

Water plays a big part in defining Pueblo with its location along the Arkansas River so the importance of a water festival is obvious.

But the big question is –

What kind of lessons are these kids going to take home with them?

“Start recycling and putting trash in a trash can in the right place where it belongs,” said Buttram.

Lessons learned here may last a lifetime, but organizers are hoping there is one lesson that sticks with these students.

“That water is very precious,” said Gonzales.

Because it’s the kids who were here who will determine just how the precious resource will be used in the years to come.

This is the 17th year for the water festival. Organizers had to cancel last year’s event because of rain.