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More than 4,500 students from 35 primary schools have joined the sixth Water Conservation Ambassador Selection Scheme organised by the Water Supplies Department (WSD), with the number of participants increasing by around 1,000 compared to last year. A total of 523 primary students were appointed as Water Conservation Ambassadors at the certificate presentation ceremony today (July 11).
Speaking at the ceremony, the Director of Water Supplies, Mr Enoch Lam, said that nine schools have joined the scheme five times already and three schools have motivated half of their students or more to join the scheme, demonstrating the growing awareness and support for water conservation among students and schools. He hoped that students would become role models to convey water-saving messages to their peers and family members.
Currently, the average household's per capita daily fresh water consumption in Hong Kong is 130 litres, which is 20 litres more than the global average. This year, the WSD has included a formula for calculating the average per capita daily fresh water consumption in the scheme's enrolment form, so that students can assess the water consumption situation of their household and implement water saving measures accordingly.
The WSD has been running the "Water Conservation Starts from Home" promotional campaign in all primary schools since the 2008/09 school year to encourage youngsters to treasure water resources, and the Water Conservation Ambassadors Selection Scheme is the highlight of the campaign. The ambassadors are selected based on the number of household members and data collected from participants on their average daily domestic water consumption. Around 2,800 certificates have been presented over the years.
Also officiating at the ceremony today were the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Water Resources and Quality of Water Supplies, Dr Chan Hon-fai; Chairperson of the Working Group on Public Education, Ms Tong Po-chun; Chairperson of the Working Group on Publication of Water Quality Data, Dr Richard Cheung; and Chairperson of the Working Group on Quality of Water in Buildings, Mr Ivan Lau.
The list of winning students and schools is available on the WSD's website (www.wsd.gov.hk).
Ends/Friday, July 11, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:27
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