From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
The sky overhead was slightly overcast, but weather on the campus of Colorado State University-Pueblo was truly tenacious Tuesday at the 17th annual Discover Water in Pueblo children’s water festival. Nearly 1,900 fourth-graders from Pueblo City Schools (D60), District 70 and four private schools attended the daylong event.
Thunderstorms deposited 0.29 and 0.17 inches in rain gauges just inches apart. A young girl gasped as a piece of fence washed downstream in a flood. A pile of snow slowly melted.
Board of Water Works employees repaired broken water mains as crowds looked on.
Inside it wasn’t much calmer, as fourth-graders were grilled about things like how many gallons of water are in an acre-foot (325,851). Meanwhile, Detective Di, a mad scientist, concocted chemical creations.
The Thunderstorms were a pair of Nerf Super Soakers, of course. The flood occurred on a trailer-top model of a watershed. The snow was actually made from shavings from the Pueblo Ice Arena hauled in by the U.S. Forest Service.
The water mains were life-size demonstration models trucked in by the water board.
The grilling of students was part of Water Wizards, sponsored by the Bureau of Reclamation.
And, Di works for Mad Science of Colorado.
“I would say learning is more fun,” one boy said, defying his classmates when asked whether it was more rewarding to learn how to read a rain gauge or to fire the Thunderstorm.
The flood-simulation trailer was sponsored by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and included a demonstration of how much more dangerous paved surfaces make a downpour.
“Colorado Springs is one giant parking lot. When it floods, it all goes into Fountain Creek,” explained Carl Beeman, who was manning the booth.
Even with all the learning activities, one activity was clearly the favorite: Getting wet. Between fire hoses, irrigation siphons and leaky taps into a water line, there were plenty of opportunities to make a splash.
Primary sponsors of the event are the Pueblo water board, Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, St. Charles Mesa Water District, Reclamation, Pueblo West and CSU-Pueblo.
More education coverage here.