The Valley Breeze

The Valley Breeze

9/15/2010

Water conservation is the theme of 2010 PWSB poster contest

Public, private and homeschooled students invited to join

PAWTUCKET - In a world where demand for fresh water is growing every year, saving the world's most precious resource has never been so important.

Students in Pawtucket, Cumberland and Central Falls are invited to illustrate the concept of water conservation as part of the Pawtucket Water Supply Board's 2010 poster contest, running now through the end of the year.

Public, private and homeschooled students in grades kindergarten through 12, who reside in any of the three communities serviced by the PWSB, are invited to participate, according to water employees.

Top prizes available include:

* A Nintendo DSi for the winner of the kindergarten-grade 3 division;

* An iPod nano 16 gigabyte MP3 player for the grade 4-8 division;

* And a Kodak M590 14.5 pixel digital camera for grade 9-12 division.

Whether it's reducing water consumption, reusing available water resources, or recycling water, all themes are in the pot for this contest.

"It's important for folks to know that as the world's population has grown, our supply of water has not," said Ron Salois, manager of accounts and customer service for the PWSB.

"The amount of available water on Earth has not changed since the beginning of time," added Salois, explaining the motivation behind holding the poster contest.

All entries submitted for the contest must include the student's name, school, grade, teacher's name, school contact phone number, and a brief description of the piece.

Drawings must be submitted, one per student, on plain white 8.5-inch by 11 inch landscape paper, in any medium except pencil. Lined or notebook paper will not be accepted. Winning entries will be scanned for publication, so no three-dimensional art or decorations.

The Valley Breeze will feature all three winning posters in a January edition of the newspaper. Winners will be declared on Jan. 11, 2011.

For a complete set of contest rules, visit www.pwsb.org . Entries can be mailed or hand-delivered to the Pawtucket Water Supply Board, 85 Branch St., Pawtucket 02860.

Along with this year's poster contest, the PWSB has developed and implemented a number of other methods of public outreach meant to inform, encourage, and reinforce the importance of water conservation, according to employee JoAnn McIntyre. The programs, she said, recognize "that one of the most important elements of a successful water conservation program is encouraging the public to take steps to protect the resource."

Salois regularly visits area schools to teach students about the water cycle and why it's important to apply the "reduce, reuse and recycle" to available water, among other concepts.

"I'll work with teachers to create presentations that fit what they are doing in the classroom," said Salois.

If you and your school would like to have Salois come make a presentation, call him at 729-5009 or e-mail rnsalois@pwsb.org.