A program at the Atlanta International School will bring together students and teachers from the Atlanta area to discuss global water issues Oct. 8.

The seminar is being organized by the Center for the Advancement and Study of International Education, an institute located at the international school that promotes global issues in local school curriculums.

The center chose to focus its first international educational exchange on water because of the issue’s far-reaching effects in Georgia and the world, according to Bobbi Kay, communications and marketing director for the center.

“We wanted to pick a topic that was pertinent on a local level, to show that it was a global issue,” she said.  According to the center, about 1.1 billion people, one-sixth of the global population, do not have access to safe drinking water.

The center hopes students will remain involved in studying the issue and plans to develop international partnerships with other schools.

Ms. Kay told GlobalAtlanta that students have been invited from a wide range of public and private schools locally, adding that the program will allow students to learn about local issues from one another.

“Someone in a school in Marietta might have a different experience with water than a school in Decatur or Clarksville,” she said.

Delegations from area schools will include four students between fourth and seventh grades and their teachers, according to Lynne McClendon, organizer of the educational exchange.

The event will be divided into three segments focusing on local, state and global water issues.

During the first segment, experts with Atlanta City Watershed Management, a department of city government responsible for providing safe drinking water, will explain to students where the water that they drink comes from, and how it gets safely to their homes.

Officials from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division will teach the second segment, which will focus on statewide water issues, particularly meeting demands from the Chattahoochee River.

The final segment, taught by the Emory Center for Global Safe Water, will teach students about water issues around the world.

Schools that continue participating in the exchange program after Oct. 8 will be partnered with a school outside of the United States and given a joint project to complete.  The schools will communicate through the Internet and use computer software to present their projects.

The center will recognize outstanding projects at an awards ceremony in the spring.

The goal of the event is for the participating students to take what they learn back to their schools and share it with their classmates.  Ms. Kay and Ms. McClendon said that they hope the exchange will inspire teachers to include global issues in their curriculum.

The center has spent over a year compiling contact information and articles relating to water issues into a compact disc that will be available at the exchange and would like to work with businesses in its educational exchange programs, especially those that produce energy- or water-saving devices. 

Ms. McClendon added that this would be valuable in showing the students “ways that businesses and industries are helping with the water crisis.”

The center plans to do more educational exchanges in the future, focusing on issues such as global warming, food and health in an international context.

Organizations interested in participating in future exchanges should contact the center.