 Hello and welcome to the special edition of the Fort Report where we are at the A.M.G. Carter exhibit hall at the 2011 Waterama event. I'm here with Hilda Zaniga with the Fort's water department and she has spearheaded the Waterama event for this year. Hilda, how many years has Waterama been going on? This is our 12th year. And what, tell me about it, what is it about? Waterama is a festival where we try to teach 4th graders the importance about water. We have 28 stations, meaning 28 agencies, all related to water that have come today and yesterday and tomorrow to showcase their information, all related to water. We have the Texas Department of Wildlife, they're talking about aquatic animals. We have the Corps of Engineers and they're talking about swimming safety, the importance of life jackets. We also have the Texas AgriLife and they're helping the kids learn about water and farming. They have, they're making a little grass there and so they teach them about the planting and all that. And then we also have the EPA and they're bringing their information. So we have just an array of agencies all related to water showing their kids how important water is in our lives and really sometimes we don't think about everything that goes behind opening a faucet and this is what we want them to take with them today. And also the importance of conserving water. Right now the state of Texas and other states are seeing drought and we might see that all through the summer so that's another message we want them to take. Be safe and also be aware of how you're using water. So these fourth graders when they leave here today what are some main things that you want them to take with them? That water is important and we need to take care of our water. That's really it. We all need to pay attention to how we use water especially now that summer is coming up and the kids are out. It's going to be hot and they will want to use the water so we want them to know how to use the water during summer. I'm with Ricky Cotto with the Neighborhoods Division of Fort Worth. Tell me what you got going on in your booth today. We are playing a game called Water Jeopardy. So pretty much we divide the kids up in the teams and they answer the questions. What's one of the questions you might ask the kids? We'll see if I've got my water shut down. When sliding down a slide. Head first always. Head first always. No. You always want to go feet first so that we don't hurt yourself. Okay. So what are two ways that floaties do not stop you from drowning? It's like I don't know center of gravity thing. All right well actually yeah I mean some people are too heavy for floaties. Also if the air pops out you're gonna end up sinking and they don't keep your head above water. So even if they keep your arms above water you know you can't breathe so there's no point to it. Okay I'm 0 for 2. Let me see if I can pull out of this. That's right. What should a baby never do by himself in the bathroom? Water skiing. Water skiing. That was very close. Take a bath. All right. You never let a little kid take a bath by himself in the bathroom. You need to go around and you need to take some notes at these booths so that way you'll learn a little bit more water safety. Okay I think you might be right. Awesome. He's got water in the right way. Watering the right way for 500. Of the following 30%, 10% or less than 5%. How much water can you save at home through conservation? 30% yell it out. Everyone yell it out if you have an answer. Okay very good. I never get picked. When they come to your booth what do you want them to leave with? What knowledge will help them outside of here? One of the things that we do in the National Weather Service is we try to teach people about the dangers of flooding. Flash flooding, river flooding, the creeks and streams in this area can all react very very fast to the heavy rain events we have in North Texas. So what we're trying to do is educate the kids on the dangers of flooding when they get old enough to drive. We want them to know if you come across a flooded roadway to turn around don't drown and be safe that way. What do we have right here in this bottle? Gravy. I don't remember where to eat before I go film these things. I'm here with Jesus Rodriguez with the 4th Water Department and his booth is all about grease abatement. We got this cool picture right here that looks a lot like my arteries but that's different story. What are you trying to get the 4th graders to learn about today? Well you mentioned that it's like your arteries that's not a bad analogy and we correlate that with how the city sewer works and we're just pretty much trying to protect the city sewer, the treatment plant and in the end the environment from grease. It has a significant impact on the environment. We try to practice or express practices such as throwing away grease instead of washing it down, promote non-use of disposals and that's all we learn. So when I fry up an entire slab of bacon which is you know pretty much that previous problem I mentioned. Breakfast? Yeah and I eat the bacon, all of it when sitting. Again, I've got this thing of grease I'm not pouring it down the drain. It goes down there so easily so thin and you just wash it down. Yeah that's the ease of it is what we're trying to get. Yeah what we would like is if you would wipe down the pan throw it in the trash or recycle it. Everything is recyclable. This is a miniature model of a grease trap. I'm gonna put some blue dye in here. It's gonna circulate over here and imagine that being greasy water. That's pretty much the whole premise of it. Okay the blue water's gonna come. You see? Imagine that's greasy water. It gets stalled there. The grease separates and goes to the top. Slightly less dirty water will go over and back into the sanitary sewer and then back to our treatment plant. And that is how we would like all grease traps to work and that's why we stress installation and maintenance of these for all restaurants or businesses that we deem grease generators. What are you gonna do whenever you get your Olympic medals? Okay when I tell it to you you're gonna make a quack monster. I'm gonna give you this. All right Matty you're first. You gotta do like this watch. You gotta go like this. Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Well I hope you learned something of 2011 Waterama. I know I did. I'm gonna quit watering it noon even though that's the best time to run through the sprinklers. I'm gonna quit pouring grease down the drain and I'm not gonna put grass clippings in the street anymore because it gets caught up in storm drains. If you'd like to find out more just go to Fortwithgov.org and look up conservation tips. I'm Chris Connelly and thanks for watching.