Country: TURKEY

School/ Organization: TED ISTANBUL COLLEGE FOUNDATION PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOL

Delegation leader/ teacher: DİDEM DEMİRCİ, NURTEN MERSİNLİOĞLU

Students’ names: BENSU TUĞLU, DİLARA BÜYÜKSOY, LARA ÜNAL, LARA ÖMÜR, MEHMET KALAYCIOĞLU, BERKE ÖZCAN

Water is our most precious natural resource and something that most of us take for granted. We started to feel the effects of climate change heavily in Turkey. We all know that water supplies are the first to suffer from climate change.

Rainwater harvesting is a method for collecting water that has been in practice for thousands of years. Primarily, it is used as a way to collect and store water for future needs in areas where water is not readily available all year round.

Three years ago, we constructed our Eco Teams at school and as volunteer students, we investigated methods to decrease our foodprint on the nature. One of the methods we found was harvesting rainwater. At first, we collected rainwater at our homes. After that we asked the school administration to build a rainwater harvesting tank at school.

The tank was built a year ago and the drain water was used in the flushing mechanisms of the bathrooms. We are proud of our project and are continuing our effort to convince other schools to employ a similar setup.