The first week of May is National Drinking Water Week, and four talented Evanston students have their “water works” on display at the Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave., through May 9. The students Sebastian Valenzuela, Logan Hagene, Xiadany Tamayo and Charlie Cassady were recognized by City Council on April 27 as winners of the City’s National Drinking Water Week Art and Photo Contest. Each received a certificate from Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl and City Utilties Director Dave Stoneback.
Sebastian and Charlie each received a People’s Choice Award; Logan, the Water Spirit Award; and Xiadany, the Mayor’s Choice Award.
Drinking Water Week has been observed the first week of May since its inception in the late 1980s, when the American Water Works Association recruited the League of Women Voters, the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to form a coalition to promote awareness of the part water plays in the daily lives of Americans.
Through those efforts the National Drinking Water Alliance was formed of 15 nonprofit educational, professional and public interest organizations, according to the AWWA website, which also states, “The Alliance dedicated itself to public awareness and involvement in public and private drinking water issues and continued its work to organize a major annual educational campaign built around Drinking Water Week.”