Water Literacy

“Empty your mind, be formless.

Shapeless, like water.

If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.

You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle.

You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.

Now, water can flow or creep, or drip or it can crash. Be water, my friend. Be water”

And so ends our final presentation on water literacy with a quote from Bruce Lee, the martial arts expert, about being adaptable to tackle the worldwide water crisis.

The community team have just finished a series of water literacy presentations to a variety of groups ranging from in person to sustainability officers in Doncaster, to online to people from all over the country to, in the office for Groundwork employees and volunteers.

Water Literacy was a new learning experience, to inspire, motivate and educate people to play their part in addressing the environmental impact of water scarcity in the UK. Through a day of learning, or two half days, participants were empowered to embed change at their organisations, at home, and in their communities.

• A series of online and in person presentations about water literacy
• Ten presentations to over 140 people in 5 months,
• Groups ranging from council officers to community river trusts, to volunteers
• Exceeded our target by more than 35 people

This part of the project was a pilot which is now being evaluated and will hopefully be rolled out further in the future.

It is rather ironic that we started our publicity for the water literacy presentations back in July with the lines:

“Now that Yorkshire is officially declared to be in drought conditions, after the driest spring for 132 years, I thought it would be a good time to let you know about a project called Water Literacy.”

Oh, how times have changed!