What is the water cycle and why is it important to life as we know it? What are aquifers and why are they important to our water supply? What is filtration and how does it help ensure that the water we use is clean?

These were the questions posed to 69 classes of Shelby County fourth graders – a total of 1,867 kids – over the two days of the Shelby County Water Festival on Dec. 12-13. Held on the campus of the University of Montevallo, it was the 19^th annual presentation of the festival by the Shelby County Soil and Water Conservation District, with support from the Shelby County Commission and Shelby County Water Services.

“It’s important that kids learn at an early age about the importance of water, both quantity and quality,” said Kim Joiner, district administrative coordinator for Shelby County Soil and Water. “We want to help them understand that if we don’t take care of it, there will be less drinkable water in the future.”

That’s serious stuff, Joiner said. And if you’re going to get nearly 2,000 9- and 10-year-old kids interested in it, you’d better make it fun.

And so they do.

Students learn by participating in three hands-on activities in different classrooms:

APSO volunteer Brad Vick, principal engineer in environmental affairs electronic and data services, Alabama Power, teaches Shelby County fourth graders about the water cycle. (Brooke Caton)

Water cycle bracelets, where they string beads representing the phases of the water cycle (evaporation, condensation, precipitation, collection), with each phase represented by a different-colored bead. They leave with a wearable reminder of what they’ve learned.

Edible aquifers, where they make their own simulated aquifers in clear plastic cups using gummy bears, ice cream and sprinkles to simulate the layers of rock, sand and gravel, and contaminants that affect the supply and quality of groundwater. Then they get to eat their aquifers.

“Most kids, that’s their favorite class,” Joiner laughed.

Filtration, where they learn what a filtration plant does by dropping dirt and other materials into clean water, then running the water through various filters to make it clean again.

There was also a magician and his assistant, doing tricks illustrating lessons like, “everything that’s alive is built with water” and “when we take care of water, we take care of what keeps us alive.” Students (and a few teachers) were selected from the audience to take part in several tricks, with much encouragement from classmates.

To accommodate the number of students in attendance, each of the three hands-on activities was conducted in six separate classrooms at a time, with the groups of students rotating room-to-room. Keeping all of that coordinated was the job of the 120 volunteers on hand over the festival’s two days.

Shelby County fourth graders made bracelets with each phase of the water cycle represented by a different color bead, one of three hands-on activities at the 19th annual Water Festival. (Brooke Caton)

Among that number were 30 members of the Alabama Power Service Organization (APSO). With more than 6,000 members in nine chapters across Alabama, APSO volunteers invest more than 40,000 hours of time in communities across the state and partner with more than 200 other nonprofit organizations to identify opportunities for volunteers to serve. Debbie Bond, environmental affairs specialist at Alabama Power and chair of APSO’s Magic City Shelby subchapter, said the organization is about building and supporting Alabama communities.

“One of my favorite things about being a part of APSO is being able to work in a community and see the difference we’re helping to make,” said Bond, who has been a member of APSO since 2010. “The Water Festival is a great project for us. We had a lot of fun helping with the hands-on activities and seeing the kids absorb all the information that was being shared.”

This year’s Water Festival is the first time APSO has supported the event. APSO members joined volunteers from the staffs at the County Commission and County Water Services, both long-time supporters of the Water Festival, along with Shelby County Soil and Water Conservation and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

“We absolutely could not do this without volunteers,” Joiner said. “We’re very appreciative of Alabama Power and APSO for this support. It means a lot.”

Bond said she and her fellow APSO members saw the Water Festival as an opportunity to build community by supporting an event that reaches children from throughout Shelby County.

“It’s important to help kids recognize how everyone’s actions can affect the water we rely on for enjoyment and survival,” Bond said. “Alabama is beautiful, and we want kids to know they can help keep it that way for generations to come.”