THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 3, 1995 TAG: 9505030181
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Prince Waterling is a water waster.
He lets the water run down the drain while brushing his teeth. He takes long, long showers. He lets the water from the faucet get cold before placing his glass under the stream. He even uses the toilet as a trash can to flush used tissues after blowing his nose.
Yep, the prince is a water waster, no doubt about it. What he doesn't realize is that his wife, Aria, will revert back to being a mermaid if he doesn't change his extravagant ways.
Luckily, the prince learns how to save water by turning off the faucet when brushing his teeth. He takes shorter showers. He waters his lawn only when needed. A jug of water in the refrigerator is how he quenches his thirst. He washes his car with a bucket of water. And he even installs a water displacement device in the toilet.
The students at Fairfield Elementary last week were glad Aria was saved. They had interacted with the prince and Aria throughout their play and didn't want to see Aria go back to the sea. At the end, they shouted out a poem, which Aria and the Prince held in front of the audience.
``In the house, in the yard, you must show respect,'' they chanted. ``Water is ours to save and protect!''
Aria and Prince Waterling are actors who travel across the country to spread the water conservation philosophy to students. And although their drama is make believe, they say it's working.
``I really believe in the message,'' said Emily Mattina, who plays Aria. ``We always get a real good response - I really do think they get the message. You have to start them thinking about water conservation when they're young.''
``A Mermaid's Tale'' is an original production of Small Change Original Theatre, a Minnesota-based national touring company. The Virginia Beach Department of Public Utilities brought the educational play to city schools this year to help teach youngsters the urgency of water conservation.
``Water is always going to be something we have to conserve,'' said Wanda Frink, the city's water conservation coordinator. ``It's so hard to change an adult person's habit.''
Frink will be working with a panel of teachers this summer to create a curriculum for water conservation, to begin in March 1996.
``We want it to be so that they don't even have to think about it,'' she said. ``Every student will be bred with a water conservation ethic.''
To encourage awareness, the Department of Public Utilities is sponsoring a citywide elementary school calendar contest on water conservation, which will end May 31. The theme is ``What Can I Do To Save Water in Virginia Beach?''
Thirteen entries will be chosen for publication, one for the cover and one for each of the 12 months inside. Thirty honorable mentions also will be selected. Winners will receive $50 savings bonds.
Student involvement in water conservation began a few years ago, most notably with the third-grade class at Old Donation Center for the Gifted and Talented. Students there produced a water conservation booklet during the 1992-93 school year that won the President's Environmental Youth Award, sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency. Teacher Grace Garriott said her students researched water conservation by speaking to utility departments across the country.
``Students found out that our city was conserving more water than the average city in the United States,'' she said, ``but we were not conserving enough, because the city of Norfolk limited the amount of water they could treat.
``Parents would come to us and say their kids were timing them in the shower,'' she added, laughing.
That school year her class also created a rap video with the Department of Public Utilities, which was distributed to all elementary schools in 1994.
Fairfield Elementary fourth-grade teacher Eric Helke said that his students worked on different ways to conserve water at home after watching it.
``You know kids, they never flush,'' said Helke, laughing. ``So we save money that way. But kids are much more aware of water conservation now. They remind the parents.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Sylvia, the shark queen, shows Prince Waterling how he can conserve
water in the bathroom during a skit at Fairfield Elementary. A
Minnesota theatrical group tours the country with its water
conservation play, titled ``A Mermaid's Tale.''
KEYWORDS: WATER CONSERVATION VIRGINIA BEACH by CNB