The Great Lake Water Festival (GLWF) is an annual awareness event held to engage grade four students in activities that demonstrate the critical importance of water in their daily lives. The BWRC and Queen’s University collaborates closely with the Ministry of the Environment Conservation and Parks, Ontario Provincial Police, Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (KFL&A) Public Health, Public Health Ontario, Limestone District School Board, Cataraqui Conservation Authority, the City of Kingston, Utilities Kingston, and Sustainable Kingston to bring this exciting event to Kingston. Since its inception, the GLWF has grown, and now hosts over 300 grade four elementary students from across the Limestone Board and the Catholic School Board. The impact of this event is to bring a unique cross-section of organizations and volunteers together to bring awareness to the importance of water to thousands of children from the region. These children are then outlets to a network of many families to spread the word about water and its importance in daily life.
The 2019 Great Lake Water Festival took place on Thursday June 6th in Lake Ontario Park. Approximately 350 Grade 4 students attended the day run by 90 volunteers! This annual festival is designed to motivate students to become water stewards in their homes, classroom, and community. Activity stations combine interactive, hands-on learning opportunities for students to ‘soak up’ knowledge on water conservation and protection, water health and safety, water science and technology, water and society , and indigenous water teachings.
Students having a blast in a water pumping race!
Grade 4 students learning about flooding and its impacts
Grade 4 students learning about water flow
Gisell Pazmino and David Blair, Queen's Student Volunteers from Civil Engineering
Leah Vignale and Alan Chang, Queen's Student Volunteers from Civil Engineering
Corinna Dally-Starna and Emily Su, Queen's Student Volunteers from Environmental Studies and Geography & Planning
Students decorating a Utilities Kingston rain barrel at the Sustainable Kingston station
Students learning about the plight of turtles in our region
Students participating in a water race demonstrating our easy access to water compared to developing countries
Students learning about the plight of turtles in our region
Students playing music with the Katarokwi Grandmother's Council
Decorated Utilities Kingston rain barrel
This years festival was brought together by the following organizations: Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority, City of Kingston, Frontenac Arch Biosphere, Katarokwi Indigenous Grandmothers Council, KFL&A Public Health, Limestone District School Board, Ministry of the Environment Conservation and Parks, Ontario Provincial Police, Queen’s University, RBC, Sustainable Kingston, Utilities Kingston.
