Students in Grades 3 thr ough 5 enjoyed the W ater CSI station at the annual Essex County Childr en s W ater Festival wher e they tested the pH levels of raw and tr eated water and lear ned about water tr eatment and distribution pr ocesses OCW A employees also r egularly pr ovide facility tours to both local and inter national gr oups to educate them about water and wastewater tr eatment pr ocesses In 2012 OCW A and the Region of Peel hosted nine tours for inter national delegations fr om China India Israel and Peru which wer e inter ested in lear ning how the South Peel plants operate OCW A also works to pr omote car eers in the water industry Agency staf f attended eight high school car eers fairs in 2012 raising awar eness of employment opportunities in the water industry W e also partner ed with the W alkerton Clean W ater Centr e WCWC the Ontario Municipal W ater Association OMW A and the Ontario W ater W orks Association OWW A to pr oduce a series of short videos dir ecting attention to a website dedicated to car eers in water In addition fourteen Grade 9 students acr oss Ontario participated in T ake Our Kids to W ork day a national pr ogram that encourages young people to spend time at the workplace of a par ent guar dian family friend or volunteer host OCW A also supports youth educational initiatives thr ough our scholarship pr ogram which awar ds 2500 to a student fr om an appr oved university or college who is in a second year Envir onmental Sciences or Envir onmental Engineering coop pr ogram and demonstrates academic excellence In 2012 we wer e pleased to pr esent a scholarship to Kangmin Kim who is curr ently enr olled in a second year Envir onmental Science pr ogram at Centennial College Thr ough its strategic partnerships and innovations gr oup OCW A is establishing connections with educational institutions such as Fleming College Centr e for Alter native W astewater T r eatment OCW A has also joined the CanadaIndia W ater T raining Consortium which was established to develop and collaborate on water initiatives in India The consortium is led by the Fleming Centr e for Alter native W astewater T r eatment and also includes Norther n College Confederation College and Centennial College 250 monitoring kits distributed by OCW A W orld W ater Monitoring Challenge Every year OCW A participates in the W orld W ater Monitoring Challenge TM This pr ogram pr omotes public awar eness of and involvement in pr otecting water r esour ces ar ound the world by encouraging participants to monitor local bodies of water and shar e the r esults thr ough their website OCW A pr omotes the Challenge by distributing testing kits during school visits and at festivals and community events 2012 Corporate Social Responsibility Report 13