Hundreds of St. Clair County fourth-grade students enjoyed the magic show at the St. Clair County Water Festival.
Part of the magic act with Amy Short, center, at this year’s St. Clair County Water Festival include Christi Thompson, left, a teacher at Springville Elementary School and her fourth-grade student, Jenny Bearden.
St. Clair County High School students Garrett Taylor, Gina Heilman and Sequoah Humes help teach fourth-grade students the importance of clean water at Tuesday’s St. Clair County Water Festival.
Learning about the importance of drinking clean water at Tuesday’s St. Clair County Water Festival are Odenville Intermediate School students, from left, Grayson Beatty, Jessica Strickland and Haley Smith.
Sarah Butterworth, Middle Coosa Watershed project coordinator who also works for the St. Clair County Soil & Water Conservation District, said it was a fun and exciting day.
“It was just a great day of learning for fourth-graders all across St. Clair County,” Butterworth said. “This event just keeps getting bigger and better each year. It’s a fun day for these students to learn where their water comes from.”
Perry Poe, chairman of the St. Clair County Soil & Water Conservation District, said this is an event they are proud to sponsor on an annual basis.
“This gives our children at an early age the thought of preserving and purifying their water and the importance of it,” Poe said. “It’s a good thing, because they go home and tell their parents about it. Hopefully, there will be a lot of good come from this.”
John Bowlin, senior vice president of JBW&T Engineers, was at Tuesday’s event.
“I think this event is so very important,” said Bowlin. “They need to learn where their water comes from and what process it goes through to clean up the water. They don’t need to take for granted when they open a faucet and it comes out.”
St. Clair County High School students Gina Heilman, Chris Miller, Sequoah Humes and Garrett Taylor demonstrated to students the process of filtering water.
“This process shows how easy it is to dirty the water and how much harder it is to clean it up,” Heilman said.
Odenville Intermediate School fourth-grade teacher Kathy Howard said it is so exciting for the students because it is a hands-on activity.
“Each year, they really enjoy thus,” Howard said. “They leave this event with insight on how important it is to save our water and better the environment. They see things they can do to take better care of their water and environment.”
