The students shared their thoughts and learned about how water gets to their own taps during a panel discussion with representatives of the Palmdale Water District.
“I didn’t know it came from Northern California,” eighth-grader Noah Jung said when asked what he discovered during the discussion.
The process of collecting snowmelt in Northern California and transporting it to Southern California is part of the state water project and the job of the Department of Water Resources, said Peter Thompson II, the district’s deputy water and energy resources director.
“What we get from the aqueduct changes every year, too,” Thompson said.
In addition to the state water, Palmdale Water District also relies on water collected behind the Littlerock Dam and groundwater pumped through wells.
Additionally, there is the issue of disposing of the salt that is removed in a manner that does not harm the environment.
Students also asked the panel how they found their way into a career in water.
For Corey Shere, a senior service worker who installs and repairs lines and other aspects of the water delivery system, working with water systems came out of an earlier career in construction.
He was working all over the country, including some jobs with water companies.
The Imagine a Day Without Water event was part of a partnership between the Palmdale Water District and the academy this year.