As part of Science Week, learners at the Lenyora Lathuto Comprehensive School in the Botshabelo area, Free State, will be learning about water purification.

“We will be going to the Mangaung Municipality where they have the purification system there. Some of the learners from our school as part of the science project will be going there and will be taught how to purify water. What are the things that are in place in purifying water,” says Computer application and Physical Science teacher Goodenough Mashune.

Mashune just recently came back from an outreach programme for educators. It was an international workshop in Canada on quantum physics from the 8th till 14th of July 2012. It is an annual programme by the South African Agency for Science and Technology advancement (SAASTA).

“When you look at water purification you are looking at things like money, so people if we save water, we save money and we save lives,” Mashune added.

The school is involved in Science week because they are part of the Dinaledi schools. A school which is a Dinaledi school is adopted by the Department of Science and Technology because they have high levels of learners who do mathematics and science.

Learners were exposed to how water purification works

The school was also involved in a project by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry in 2008 on water purification. The project was on the SA Youth Water Price. Three learners were participating in the awareness competition on water and sanitation.

“Water purification and water scarcity is what the country is facing and I think it is just needed to be taken from that point and give the learners ferocity to go and follow onto that,” says Mashune.

The learners were exposed to how water purification works by going to Bloem Water and Mangaung local municipality. They were shown how the water is purified, what is entailed in the purification system as well as the logistics behind it.

The learner’s project was amptly called “Save water save lives.”

The competition was based on the 2020 VFWEP Water department initiative which is a school based programme initiated in 1996.

According to the department of Water Affairs and Forestry website: “The program is aimed at addressing one of the department’s mandate that of Public education with special focus on learners at basic Education level. Through the 2020 VFWEP the expectation is that learners will continue to raise awareness in their families and ultimately encourage behavioural change for better water use practices in our communities.”

 

 

Source: http://www.sabc.co.za