More than 6500 Northern Territory students have completed a 10-week school program teaching them the science – and indigenous cultural stories – behind the water that comes out of their taps at home.
The program, which is run by the Territory’s utility provider Power and Water Corporation, is called “That’s My Water”, and while has mainly been run in Top End primary schools, is being expanded into more remote communities across central Australia.
The 0872 Report spoke to Power and Water’s Joel Spry recently about the first decade of the program, how it became certified as an official educational program by the national curriculum regulator, and how bringing in Elders in remote communities to teach children about the cultural importance of water has been central to its success out bush.
Mr Spry said the course included information ranging from the science behind how groundwater gets from aquifers to taps in remote communities to how important it was was to report leaks to preserve what he called one of nature’s “most precious resources”.
Hear the full interview below, as part of The 0872 Report’s series on remote water supply and quality across central Australia and the Barkly, supported by funding from the Local and Independent News Association.
And tune in to 8CCC 102.1FM tomorrow from 9am for a special report on the decades-long fight for quality drinking water in one of the nation’s most remote communities, Alpurrurulam, a tiny community in the Barkly also known as Lake Nash
It is one of a few Territory communities, including Nyirripi, where the NT Government was forced to truck in bottled water for pregnant women, children and the elderly, when international drinking water rules were tightened 18 months ago.