The children, aged between 4 and 12 years, were challenged to create a picture, poem or rap to illustrate how important it is to use water wisely.
Speaking at the ceremony, Minister for Regional Development Conor Murphy said: “The standard of entries in this year’s NI Water school’s competition has been very high, and it is good to see so many young children presenting their ideas about why it is important to use water wisely.
“Many of the poems, pieces of art and other entries from the children represent how small changes in behaviour such as having a shower instead of a bath, or turning off the tap while brushing teeth can save millions of tonnes of water each year.
“All of us young and old can make a contribution to conserving water, especially given that we use 70% more water than we did 40 years ago and that only 3% of water entering the home is being used as drinking water with the average person here using 145 litres of water daily.”
Competition was strong, with over 700 entries received from schools throughout the north, however winners were chosen and over 38 children from as far as Limavady, Omagh and Enniskillen were presented with their finalist’s certificate today.
NI Water Chairman and Chief Executive, Chris Mellor commented: “We were astounded by the response to this competition, and by the calibre of the entries we received this year. Not only is there a wealth of artistic and creative talent within schools in Northern Ireland, but there is also a clear interest in protecting our environment. Judging by the quality of these entries young people have a passion and understanding of the importance of using water wisely – something many adults could learn from.
“We are extremely proud of all the children who entered the competition, not just those selected to attend the awards ceremony today. The creativity, enthusiasm and commitment has been inspiring.”
There were fourteen winners across twelve categories – Dylan Nixon from Longstone Primary School; Aaron Donaghy from St Colmcille’s Primary School; Rachel Sproule from Drumlegagh Primary School; Molly Hamilton from Belmont House School, Jade McMullan from Kesh Primary School; Conor Clyde from Ballykelly Primary School; Ross Irwin from Downshire Primary School; Rory Glennon from Beechlawn Primary School, Andy Hawe and Joe Stewart from Knockloughrim Primary School; Elfi Stewart, Kyle Park and Callum Hayes from Drumadonnell Primary School; and finally the P2 class from Presentation Primary School, which was the winning class in the Rap P1 – 3 category.
The competition prizes include cash donations for winning schools in each category as well as individual prizes (book and art tokens) for each child.
Notes to Editors:
1. Competition finalists can be located on the NI Water website at
http://www.niwater.com/siteFiles/resources/word/competition_finalists.doc
2. You can save water by:
- taking a shower instead of a bath (a showers uses 1/3 water of a bath)
- using watering cans instead of hosepipes and sprinklers around the garden (a sprinkler can use as much water as a family of 4 use in a day)
- using a water butt to collect rain water for use on the garden
- using buckets to wash the car rather than a hose (a hose pipe can release as much as 9 litres of water a minute)
- turning off the tap when brushing teeth
- only using the dishwasher and washing machine when they are full
- only filling the kettle with as much water as necessary
- mending leaking taps (taps that drip once a second lose 33 litres of water a day, 5500 litres of water a year)
3. Media queries to: Press Office, Tel 028 90 540004. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned. Or NI Water Press Office on 028 9357695 or 028 9035 4710 or email press.office@niwater.com
