"Our Rivers, Our World!" by Mr. Banchs from the US Embassy in Lebanon

Two days ago, Makassed KSPS hosted the speaker bureau, a program provided by the cultural affairs office at the US. Embassy in Lebanon through a valuable and interactive lecture provided by Mr. Antonio Banchs from the US embassy.  The lecture entitled "Our Rivers, Our World!" was offered  to our sixth graders from Makassed KSPS, Khadijah, and OBK schools with the presence of Mrs. Souheir Zein, the director of Makassed Research and Development Center, and Mrs. Edith Bitar, the assistant of cultural affairs office at the US Embassy. At the end, Mr. Banchs gave generous gifts of worldwide old and current coins to all students and teachers.

It was a great event due to the efforts, interactivity and valuable information provided by Mr. Banchs as well as the mutual collaboration between our school and the US Embassy. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Mr. Banchs and Mrs. Edith Bitar for their caring, time and cooperation.

 

Mr. Banchs maintained the following points in his lecture:

 

What is water?

Discuss the percentage of salt vs. drinking water

Cycle of water:  Evaporation/Transpiration, Condensation, Precipitation, Infiltration, Runoff

All water is not the same:

 

• Hard water has higher concentrations of Calcium and Magnesium
• Salt water requires desalination and cannot be used for drinking or irrigation
• We must protect our drinking water sources or we will waste additional energy trying to reclaim drinking water from polluted water

 

How important is water to the human being?

Percentage of water that makes up things.

Amount of water it takes to produce things.

Desalination Process vs. Protecting our water sources

Number of desalination plants and the amount of energy it takes to process water

What can we do?

Simple everyday functions that we can change to contribute to saving our drinking water sources

 

Become informed!