Youngsters learn water pollution solutions

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A new interactive display with educational games for youngsters and adults to learn about water pollution and solutions was featured at the Illinois State Fair.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s exhibit, located in Conservation World, also included signage about water quality-related topics and information about the IEPA’s curriculum that is available for free online to educators and families.

The popular new interactive display offered multiple children’s activities including “Putting for Clean Drinking Water,” a miniature golf hole; “Wetland Bean Bag Toss,” to teach about the importance of wetlands; and “Fish Out the Pollutants,” to remove pollutants from water and properly dispose of them; as well as a self-guided unscramble letter board, a watershed map where visitors can mark which watershed they live in and a coloring table.

“It’s about water pollution, and what we can do to help with that,” said Megan Matzat, IEPA Bureau of Water administrative assistant.

“It’s quite the hit where they are fishing out different pollutants from the water. Then we coach them on what kind of pollutant is it, can we recycle it, is it hazardous waste that could be recycled, is it just trash or could we compost it.

“We were really just trying to focus on what kind of pollutants can get in the water and what we can do to help get them out of there and improve water quality.”