Message from Brendan

A very warm welcome to aquaBUBBLER’s Community Newsletter, Edition Two: the autumn edition.

It was certainly a hot summer (see our article below), so our focus on the importance of student hydration was heightened. We produced a series of hydration factsheets—available on our website—and have made exciting progress on our work to raise school hydration policies on the nation agenda. We’ll reveal more about that next edition, as developments are progressing as we speak…

The next few months are shaping up to be as busy as ever – March 22 is UN World Water Day, and while it’s a highlight every year, 2013 promises to be extra special, given it’s also International Year of Water Cooperation.

Is your school planning anything special to celebrate World Water Day? Let us know and we’d be happy to feature your stories and pictures in our winter newsletter. We have a few suggestions in the stories below.

This newsletter is designed to keep you up to date on the issues close to our hearts—student hydration, sustainability, water conservation, plastic water bottle reduction, and all things aquaBUBBLER—so I trust you enjoy the read. And let us know if there is topic or a story you’d like to see next edition.

Wishing you a vibrant autumn,

Brendan Lynch, Managing Director, aquaBUBBLER

Summers are getting hotter, so don’t risk being dehydrated

It’s was certainly a hot summer, with a record string of hot days already recorded nationwide, and Australia’s hottest day on record ever recorded on 7 January. It looks like there are more heatwave records about to be broken even as autumn kicks in.

And there’s more to come in the future! The University of NSW’s Climate Change Research Centre says that extended periods of high temperatures have increased in recent decades, and that recent studies reveal many regions, including Australia, face more frequent and intense periods of extremely high temperatures.

So we really need to make hydration a priority.

When Sydney sweltered through record-breaking highs in early January, ambulance services responded to almost 500 cases of heat exposure, many caused by dehydration.

Here at aquaBUBBLER we were already preparing a series of factsheets about the importance of hydration, including why hydration is so important for children, the short and long term health benefits of good hydration practices, and tips for ensuring your children or students don’t suffer from dehydration.

aquaBUBBLER: made to measure!

The water meter clicks over every time the tap is used, making it easy for students to keep a record of how much water they drink or use to fill their water bottles. Brendan Lynch, Managing Director of aquaBUBBLER, said “We chose to add this feature so the school and students can see how often the aquaBUBBLER is being used”.

The recommended daily intake of water for children ranges from 1.2 to 2.6 litres depending on age (check our factsheet for details), drunk regularly throughout the day (including at least three to four glasses while at school), plus plenty of additional fluid during warm weather and when exercising.

Why not encourage students to keep track of their water intake using aquaBUBBLER’s water meter?

‘Water, water everywhere, only if we share’

Every year on 22 March, World Water Day focuses attention on global water issues and advocates for sustainable management of freshwater resources. A theme and slogan are chosen each year. This year’s theme is Water Cooperation—in line with 2013 being the International Year of Water Cooperation—and the recently announced slogan is “water, water everywhere, only if we share”.

It was selected from over 12,000 slogans submitted in a world-wide competition. The winner, Megha Kumar, said that it was important for humanity to understand the deeper meaning behind her words, and work towards resolving cross-boundary issues involving water sharing. The slogan calls for the global community to come together for fresh water, which has no borders.

World Water Day has been celebrated since the United Nations (UN) declared the official date in 1993. People across the world are encouraged not to use their taps for the whole day, and support grows every year (it has become a popular Facebook trend).

Every year the UN and its member countries devote this day to implementing recommendations and promoting activities around world water resources. Many non-government organisations (NGOs) promoting clean water and sustainable water practices use World Water Day to focus public attention on critical water issues, and the World Water Council draws thousands to participate in its World Water Forum.

Between them, participating NGOs, agencies, and governments highlight issues such as the billion plus people around the world without access to safe drinking water. This year the UN’s international conference will focus on the four themes of water cooperation:

• Water Cooperation is key to poverty reduction social equity and gender equality
• Water Cooperation creates economic benefits
• Water Cooperation helps preserve water resources and protect the environment
• Water Cooperation builds peace

World Water Day! Getting involved.

To get involved in World Water Day or the International Year of Water Cooperation, check out the UN Water Cooperation advocacy guide. There is also plenty of other material on their website.

One example activity for schools students is walking for water, a fundraiser for international water projects which has been part of World Water Day for 10 years. In 2012, over 26,000 children from 11 countries raised over 1.6 million dollars.

Participating schools can choose which project they’d like to fund with the money raised, and watch the project unfold online. Students can blog, chat and upload pictures and videos on the site.

Or you could just pick a project, and organize your own activities. You can read an inspiring example of how Epping Views Primary School recently raised $1,425 to help an African community get improved access to clean water.

Let us know how you go – we’d love to share more stories like this one!

Cool Australia has some cool teaching resources

Cool Australia is a not-for-profit organisation whose work is very close to our hearts: they are dedicated to teaching younger generations about the importance of sustainability and protecting our environment.

Part of Cool Australia’s charter is to empower educators by providing free, Australian curriculum-linked environmental resources to educators and students. Their team of leading teachers, curriculum writers and sustainability education experts create original learning activities that teachers can download and take straight into the classroom.

Cool Australia founder and CEO, Jason Kimberley said, “It’s great to have aquaBUBBLER on board. Their long-established collaboration with schools on issues of sustainability, and their development of a product which responds to many of the environmental challenges the world currently faces, make them a perfect organisation for Cool Australia to be associated with.”



Cool Australia’s annual Love Your Planet lunch involves an auction to raise money for their education programs. This year we are donating an aquaBUBBLER drinking fountain, 

At the lunch, teachers and students shared their experiences about how Cool Australia’s resources have helped them fulfill their potential in sustainability education. The lunch raised about $50,000, and all funds will go towards further development of Cool Australia’s education resources.