CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s (WVDEP) Watershed Improvement Branch (WIB) is hosting three water festivals later this month. The festivals are for fifth-grade students and are designed to promote awareness, knowledge, and stewardship of water resources.
The upcoming festivals are:
• Coal River Group Water Festival: Tuesday, May 14 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Meadowood Park in St. Albans. The event is sponsored by Project Water Education for Teachers (WET) and the Coal River Group.
• Wyoming County Water Festival: Friday, May 17 from 9:15 a.m. to 1:10 p.m. at RD Bailey Lake. The event is sponsored by the WVDEP’s WIB, the Southern Conservation District and WVU-Wyoming County Extension Office.
• McDowell County Water Festival: Thursday, May 23 from 9:15 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. at Linkous Park in Welch. This event is sponsored by the WDEP’s WIB, the Elkhorn Creek Watershed Association, and the Southern Conservation District
Students will learn about nonpoint source pollution, the water cycle, healthy drinking habits, water conservation, water safety, and the aquatic life in streams and rivers, as well as stream health, macroinvertebrates, trout and snakes native to WV, and fly-fishing.
Presenters include the WVDEP’s Youth Environmental Program and Save Our Streams Program, Trout Unlimited, the National Park Service, WVU Extension, the West Virginia Department of Highways, Division of Forestry, and Division of Natural Resources, West Virginia State University, the West Virginia Conservation Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the McDowell County Solid Waste Authority.
For more information, contact Jennifer Liddle, WVDEP WIB, at 304-574-4465 or Jennifer.D.Liddle@wv.gov, or WV Project WET coordinator Tomi Bergstrom at 304-926-0499 ext. 1098 or Tomi.M.Bergstrom@wv.gov.
