WIMMERA students learnt about water situations around the world at an annual GWMWater conference on Thursday.
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Authority spokesman Andrew Rose said students developed presentations on the water situation in their towns.
Year nine and 10 students from Edenhope, Horsham, Kaniva, Stawell and Ararat colleges attended.
Mr Rose said there was also a video presentation from Tauranga Girls School in New Zealand.
“They have presented at the conference for the past four years,” he said.
Mr Rose said it was beneficial for the Wimmera students to hear about the water situation in New Zealand.
“In New Zealand, they panic when they have a dry spell of four or five weeks,” he said.
“They just don’t have the same water storage system as we do.”
Guest speakers at this year’s conference included Edenhope College teacher Rachel Farren and Robyn Beetham from the charity Well Wishes.
“Rachel spent a year teaching in Gambia, on the west coast of Africa, so she spoke about her experience living in a very dry, poor environment,” Mr Rose said.
“She explained to the students how fortunate we are and how we shouldn’t take luxuries for granted – particularly things like a flushing toilet and a shower.
“Well Wishes is an organisation that works in Ethiopia. They raise money to build wells in remote communities.
“The wells have liberated women in Ethiopia, because previously they would spend most of their days carting water and the girls wouldn’t go to school.”
Mr Rose said the conference was a good opportunity for students to work with other schools.
“When we started this eight years ago, we wanted to give young people in the Wimmera the opportunity to participate in a conference that was structured the same as an adult conference,” he said.
Edenhope College won a $1000 prize for the best school presentation.
Mr Rose said in the past eight years, about 700 Wimmera students had experienced the workshop.