ABOUT THE PROJECT
The basic idea of the project The Water Agent is to establish international cooperation and networking through the exchange of data on water consumption, which encourages thoughtful water management.
Water is an important natural resource and is indispensable in everyday life as a food product, as is the technical water in food production, in transport, in tourism, and elsewhere. Therefore, the general public should be aware of the need to protect water resources, rational use of water and reduce its pollution.
According to experts, half of the Earth’s population will be met by drinking water shortages by 2030. The average water consumption per person in Europe is 150 l / day, in Slovenia 117 l / day. According to the United Nations, there are 7.55 billion people in the world. On the planet, drinking water is only 1% of all water. So it’s high time to take action to ensure sufficient quantities of clean drinking water for generations coming after us.
The project promoter is the Water Agency, founded in 2013 in Slovenia, with the aim of directing the general public’s attention to the need for a responsible attitude towards water and water resources. In the first place, it focuses on the rational use of water and the entire water path from its capture in nature, distribution, to the purification of waste water.
The purpose of the project:
– Education on the environment and water resources.
– Raising awareness about the necessity of protecting and responsible environmental and water management.
– Raising awareness of rational water use.
Target group of the project
The project is designed for everyone. Children in kindergartens, pupils in elementary schools and secondary school pupils, as well as their educators and teachers, are active participants. Today’s children and adolescents will once again manage our environment, so it is important that they know and understand as much as possible and understand its laws and processes that are taking place in it. By educating and raising children and adolescents, we raise future adults with an already established awareness of water as an important natural asset, which is not unlimited but essential for the existence of life on Earth. Education and awareness of children and adolescents also affect their immediate environment, parents, relatives, friends, acquaintances, and indirectly, we are also raising and educating the wider local community.
In the framework of the project, we are trying to establish contacts with local self-government bodies, utility companies and other companies that enable us with the donations to smoothly implement the project. At the same time, they also provide us with various data (water and communal infrastructure, water consumption, etc.), which enable the participants in the project to compare their region with other regions at home and abroad.
Project goals
– Increase the awareness of children and adolescents regarding the protection of the environment and water resources.
– Rationalization of water consumption in everyday tasks.
Content of the project
The project consists of three parts: a water meter, a web application for data entry and a mobile water station.
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Water consumption meter
The meter is installed on the reinforcement in the classroom and records the amount of water discharged. Data is read directly on the meter. The device enables us to control the amount of water consumed and give us insights into our everyday habits. Data can be compared with the data of children, pupils and students at their and other participating schools at home and abroad.
- Web application
Data on the meter are read daily, weekly, or monthly and we enter them into the web application: https://www.wateragent.eu We can enter an unlimited number of data for different classes / years with different numbers of children, pupils, pupils. The application automatically calculates the amount of water consumed within a specific time period and displays the data on the graph. This gives us a very accurate insight into the water consumption during the selected time period.
- Mobile water station
Within the project, all participating schools have the opportunity to present a mobile water station at their school. The station contains technical elements of plumbing and communal infrastructure, which are presented to children, pupils and students in an interesting and understandable way. They will get answers to questions like: Why is water so important? How does the water come to the surface? From where and how does the water come to the tap? Where does the water flow and what happens to it? Who is responsible for the water supply network?
History of the project
Already before the official formation of the Society, the Eco School program in Slovenia began to implement the program. Each drop was counted, which included the exchange of data on water consumption among schools. In cooperation with pupils and teachers, the project gradually evolved into a model that became an important contribution to global activities for preserving water resources.
After the first phase of water data exchange, we developed the Water Agent application, which allows monitoring of the amount of water consumed. By doing this we enabled networking of users both at home and at the international level, the project quickly crossed the Slovenian borders. Already at the end of 2013, with the involvement of the Republic of Serbia, the functioning of the society got regional significance. In the school year 2014/15, the implementation of the project has expanded from Strunjan to Slovensko Primorje to Krusevac in Serbia. This was not only an expanded area of operation, but a pilot educational project was also carried out, which gave very good results. In the course of the project, the Water Agent developed a training package that, in addition to the water meter, also includes an application for data entry and a mobile water station with water and communal infrastructure. With the educational package, the water agent is now accessible to all interested schools, in addition to the existing learning content. In 2014, schools from the Republic of Croatia started to be included in the project. In the following years, the project gradually began to spread to other countries in the Western Balkans.
Whats next?
We want to extend the already expanded project activities to other Western Balkan countries by training new local coordinators and integrating new schools. We want to gradually expand our project activities in other Danube countries. A project of connecting towns along the Danube River (Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Belgrade) is under preparation.
By expanding the network of coordinators (water agents) and networking, we create opportunities for disseminating information and networking of economic operators and entrepreneurs who are willing to support the project. An increasing number of economic operators and entrepreneurs recognize the significant investment potential in the Water Agent project and offer them new markets for the promotion of companies, their products and services throughout the Western Balkans.
INCLUSION IN THE PROJECT (REGISTRATION)
Are you one of those who care about our environment and water resources? Then join us in the Water Agent project. Complete the below application and become part of the Water Agent team. We are more and more able to do good for our environment.