Miranda Caruso and speckled trout see eye-to-eye (photos)

After a serious chat with a speckled trout (shown) today at Fort Creek Conservation Area, Miranda Caruso has decided to make sure she turns the water off while she brushes her teeth.

Miranda also wants to tell everyone else to turn the water off while they brush their teeth and to conserve water.

Caruso is a Grade 5 student in Mr. Lance's class at St. Paul's School.

SooToday.com found the class playing in and learning about water at the first annual Children's Source Water Festival, hosted by the Sault Ste. Marie Region Conservation Authority.

Christine Aasen, conservation authority assistant manager and source water protection communications person, coordinated the festival and has spent the past year preparing for it.

"I actually attended a couple of them and volunteered at one," she said. "I got hands-on training."

That training has served the festival well, as almost 600 children will have participated in the festival by the end of its three-day run.

Nearly 200 volunteers are working together to educate students about the importance of water conservation, protection, technology, and ecology at Fort Creek Conservation Area.

The event continues tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The festival's theme is "I am the source" says Aasen.

"I am the source of change, is the idea," she said. "If everybody thought that way we wouldn't be running out of clean water."

The festival uses interactive displays, games and activities to engage children in conservation and Aasen says the importance of involving kids in conservation cannot be underestimated.

"I know for myself it's often my son that sparks my attention in important issues that I realize I should think about more," she said. "Kids are going to be the next generation to look after our water and we want to have clean water for them."

She and the Children's Water Education Council of Ontario believe children will take the lessons they learn at the festivals, which are held across Ontario, home to their families and inspire greater participation in water protection and conservation.

"They're going to go home and they're going to see mom or dad putting paint thinner down the drain, oil leaking into a storm sewer or somebody storing something that they shouldn't next to their well," she said. "They're going to say 'you shouldn't be doing that because its dangerous to our water supply.'"

Aasen said that spaces at the festival were limited and filled quickly with area schools whose Grades 3, 4 and 5 students wanted to participate.

She also said the response from volunteers, especially the Grade 8 class at Kiwaden Public School and local high school students was phenomenal.