Five posters created by students who attend school in the Irvine Ranch Water District service area were selected for judging in the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s “Water is Life” poster contest.

IRWD judges selected the posters from among many received from schools in the Irvine Unified, Tustin and Saddleback Unified school districts.

The five finalists will be sent to Metropolitan, where they will compete with posters submitted by water agencies all over Southern California. IRWD has had at least one winner every year for more than 20 years of participation

Once Metropolitan makes its selection, students will be notified in the fall if their posters will be published in the 2017 Water is Life calendar.

The five finalists for 2016 are:

• Melody Yu, third grade, Turtle Rock Elementary School
• Nikki Piedad, third grade, Vista Verde School
• Zach Piedad, third grade, Vista Verde School
• Lauren Louie, fourth grade, Stone Creek Elementary School
• Shourya Kadam, fifth grade, La Madera Elementary School

Each student received a certificate and bag of IRWD goodies.

The posters which were not selected as the five finalists will have another chance – they have been sent to the Municipal Water District of Orange County for judging in the 2016 poster and slogan contest.

Irvine Ranch Water District reminds customers that California is earthquake country and April has been designated as California Earthquake Preparedness Month.

Why April? Because in the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, resident of San Francisco and beyond were shaken from their beds by what has been estimated to be an 8.3 earthquake. Several aftershocks and fires followed, leaving a wake of devastation.

Recent earthquakes serve to remind us that Today, California is still vulnerable to the effects of a massive earthquake. IRWD suggests enrollment in the CodeRED Emergency Alert System in order to receive updated information should any emergency, including earthquakes, occur.

Signing up for CodeRED is as easy as logging onto the IRWD website and click on Emergency and CodeRED in the Customer Care bar on the left side of the home page.

In the meantime, customers should be aware that the first 72 hours following an earthquake are critical, so you should be prepared to be self-sufficient for at least that long. A supply of stored water is the most important survival items. Several gallons of stored water per person can last two weeks.

For more information on how to prepare for an emergency, please check our website.

More than 7,000 third through fifth grade students from all over Orange County converged on Aldrich Park at UC Irvine for the two days of the annual Children’s Water Education Festival. Around 400 of them were able to “Get the Groundwater Picture” at the Irvine Ranch Water District’s activity.

Students learned about the local groundwater basin, the aquifers, what they can do to prevent water pollution and conserve water during the drought and every day.

A total of 612 students from the IRWD service area attended the two-day event held March
23-24. This was the fourth year the event was held at Aldrich Park and the weather cooperated.

The event had been held at the Nixon Library and Birthplace for four years previously and before that, at the Hidden Valley Event Center in Irvine behind the former Wild Rivers location. IRWD has participated in the event all 20 years of its existence.

For more information on IRWD educational programs, please visit our website.

Stop by the lobby of the Irvine Ranch Water District’s Sand Canyon office the week of April 5-12 to view the winning Water Awareness posters of students from all over Southern California.

The display features the winners of the 2015 Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s poster contest and includes the art work of Jana Ibrahim, who was a first grader at Westpark Elementary School at the time of the contest.

Jana’s art work and the other 35 winning posters will be displayed in the IRWD lobby and available for public viewing during regular business hours: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The students, their parents and teachers were invited to a ceremony at Metropolitan’s Los Angeles office in November. The winning art work was framed and on display in the building’s rotunda. Winning posters were published in the 2016 Water is Life calendar.

The traveling art show began in January and is making its way around various water agencies all over Southern California. The show will conclude the end of July and the framed art work returned to the participating agencies. Jana will be honored at a future IRWD board meeting and be presented with her winning art work.

IRWD has participated in the annual poster contest since its inception more than 20 years ago and has had at least one winner each year. More information about IRWD education programs is available on our website.