KC Water recognizes that good quality water is everyone’s business and that educating young people is a great way to spread the message of sustainable water use and raise awareness about the role individuals play in preventing stormwater pollution. The program is free and is available to schools within the KC Water ratepayer boundaries.

To get the message out, KC Water provides “The Journey of Stormwater – From KC to the Sea” ─ a curriculum for 4^th through 6^th grades that is aligned with the Missouri Core Curriculum and Next Generation Science Standards ─ to schools within their ratepayer area. Through five days of interactive and fun lessons, the students learn how precipitation moves through a watershed, how stormwater becomes polluted by point and nonpoint source pollutants, and how best management practices (BMPs) implemented by the City, and by their families in their own backyards, improve water quality and reduce the quantity of stormwater that enters creeks, streams, and rivers. The students also create a public service announcement that will help persuade others to adopt BMPs that improve water quality in Kansas City.

It isn’t just classroom work. After going over the basics, the students move outside for real examples of how water moves and takes with it whatever is in the way. “Every single time I go in and work with these kids I always hear that ‘wow’ factor. When the kids see water move across impervious surfaces carrying pollution right along with it, they never cease to be amazed,” said Kate Delehunt one of KC Water’s Water Quality Educators.