Harnessing water

Water conservation to the fore

By Dean Galea Pellicano On Wednesday 11th of May an exhibition was set up to showcase the cisterns found at St Edward’s College. This exhibition’s main aim was to raise awareness about water conservation and the importance of have such features at college. This was a multi-year group effort culminating in an exhibition and live demonstration. Prior to this stage there were other preliminary stages in which year 13 students Abdu Al Matroud and Muad Elhetki helped in clearing up access to the cisterns, cistern observation and helping in the collection of water samples. The exhibition was set up beneath the arches of the English department, close to one of the cistern openings. An ROV was set up so that when the students finished with the exhibition, they could move over to follow the demonstration.

The exhibition was composed of various elements:

• Three different plans, all having different dates, of college showing the cisterns to show their location and size.

• Footage taken during probing of the cistern’s openings was played on loop so show give the students their first peep inside of the cistern.

• Four bottles containing four water samples taken from the four different cisterns found at college. These samples were chemically tested by year 12 students (Julian Coppini, Mia Bella Galea and Sara Beres) for the following properties: pH Levels, Conductivity, hardness and boiling point. The results will be used for future studies aimed and purifying the cistern water for human consumption. Other year 13 students (Jia Jin (Andy), Yulin Wang (Edward) and Hanna Darabos) had also started the process but could not be at the exhibition.

• Historical documentation retrieved from the national archives mentioning the Cottonera Hospitals’ cisterns. A summary was compiled by Alfonso Resisand Tolomeo.

• A plan made by year 10 students (Yani Muscat, Andreas Aquilna Bondin, Raoul La Cognata and Alfonso Reisang Tolomeo ) displaying all locations of the pipes which serve as water input to the cisterns.

The exhibition was set up with the help of ESS year 12 students who did the heavy lifting. Many of these students also gave interviews on camera where they talked about their involvement in the project and gave the reasoning of why they did that part, and for which ultimate purpose. These interviews will be used to showcase student participation in such project by the water services corporation and give college the good stand-