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Description
The topic of the project is "Reducing the negative impact of human activities on water quality". The primary basic idea is to raise awareness of water pollution by micropollutants that originate mainly from households. Besides, pupils and teachers will be trained by actively participating in workshops and laboratory exercises led by experts from universities or professionals from the specific field. The topic of water pollution by pharmaceutical products and products of personal care is a relatively new one and will be included in the education of students and general public.
A series of short video programs with English subtitles and three popular-science articles sent to periodicals will form the basis of the public awareness campaign. Schools will have the opportunity to use workshop methodologies available on the internet. There will be 3 conferences with field trips and workshops available for teachers, students, and parents with children. The applicant will use a long-term cooperation with 42 schools from various regions of the Czech Republic to spread awareness among schools about the necessity to reduce amount of pollutants in the water system and innovation of technologies aiming to increase water protection.
Summary of project results
Our project focused on the pressing issue of water pollution. We aimed to educate students, teachers, children, and parents about which substances contaminate our water, how they can be removed, and the serious risks these pollutants pose to our health and the environment.
Our activities promoted a shared understanding of what pollutants are and how they impact our environment. Together, we recognized the importance of limiting water pollutants. This goal was achieved through the collaboration of experts and secondary school students, who took the lead in researching pollutants and wastewater treatment technologies. A key question guided our discussions: "What can each of us do to reduce water pollution?"
Students showcased their findings at a conference in Brno and, through our partnership with Vodárenská akciová společnost, a.s., participated in field trips to a wastewater treatment plant with tertiary treatment and a drinking water preparation plant. They also joined university lab workshops, experimenting with activated carbon to capture pollutants. These experiences highlighted the importance of "green buildings" and biological water treatment in root water treatment plants as effective strategies to combat pollution.
We created a series of four short films on the topic of water in the landscape and compiled a collection of educational articles in Czech and English. These articles cover various water-related topics, including pollutants, wastewater treatment, ecological cleaning agents, and the preparation of drinking water.
Our educational activities for secondary school students included lessons with professionals, field trips, laboratory exercises, and workshops, engaging a total of 305 participants. Additionally, we organized two conferences with experts from the field. One of these conferences was entirely student-led, featuring their own presentations, and 134 people participated. To further raise awareness, we launched a digital campaign on social media, reaching over 73,000 people.
The project successfully sparked interest of participating young people in water pollution issues. There is one result we haven’t initially expected, microplastic contamination. During their work students discovered how serious this problem concerning the waters really is. This encouraged participants to think about better ways to manage plastics in their households. We also discovered that bottled water isn’t necessarily of better quality than tap water and that our municipal treatment plants still struggle to detect and remove many metabolites. This highlighted the importance of integrating “green buildings” and root treatment plants into future developments.