City of Columbus Holds Eighth Annual Central Ohio Children’s Water Festival

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On May 19th, 2015 approximately 500, fifth-grade students attended the eighth annual Central Ohio Children’s Water Festival at Franklin Park in Columbus, Ohio.  The Festival promotes environmental awareness of our valuable water resources through interactive displays, hands-on activities and fun workshops. The Ohio Water Resources Center led the workshop titled: “Sink or Float-Buoyancy”. The students enjoyed guessing the probabilities that specific objects will sink or float, build their own paper boats and then they tried to sink them using metal washers.

Students learning about buoyancy by sinking their paper boat using metal washers
Students learning about buoyancy by sinking their paper boat using metal washers

The Festival began and ended with music from DJ Tom Angelo – who helped keep the students entertained in the amphitheater while the busses were unloaded in the morning and loaded in the afternoon.  The morning events began with half of the students attending five (5) of the thirteen, 15-minute presentations - predominately delivered by the Columbus Department of Public Utilities’ (DPU’s) water supply, water and wastewater treatment, and water distribution system and wastewater collection groups. The other half of the students interacted with presenters at three (3) of the thirteen 25-minute, hands-on workshops – learning about the irreplaceable resource of water and how it impacts our lives. Our “Sink or Float-Buoyancy” workshop was part of hands-on workshops and we worked in total with 5 groups of students.

Before lunch the students were formally welcomed to the Central Ohio Children’s Water Festival by Columbus’ Mayor Michael B. Coleman, Columbus City Council members Zach Klein and Eileen Paley, and Division of Water (DOW) Administrator Dr. Rick Westerfield.  Mayor Coleman announced Serafina Rees as the winner of the window cling contest and called Serafina and her teacher to the stage for recognition.

The winning window cling created by Serafina Rees of Wickliffe Progressive Elementary, discouraging use of bottled water.
The winning window cling created by Serafina Rees of Wickliffe Progressive Elementary, discouraging use of bottled water.

Thanks to everyone who contributed in some fashion to yet another successful Central Ohio Children’s Water Festival.  A special thanks goes to Columbus DPU Director Greg Davies and DOW Administrator Rick Westerfield whose unwavering support has led to the long-term success of this effective educational event for Franklin County school children. For more details visit our outreach tag on this website.