The schoolchildren of Aragon, protagonists of a campaign to take care of the Ebro from the sewers

Raise awareness among the population, starting with the youngest, of the importance of keeping the streets of Aragon clean and, consequently, its sewerage system. That is the objective pursued by the “El Ebro starts here”, promoted by the Aragon Government with Expo Saragossa Business and the Aquarius Foundation of Zaragoza, which has given the starting gun this Monday.

They intend to make visible the need to keep the sewers of the community free of garbage. To achieve this goal, the sewers will paint with the name of the campaign, the logos of the associated entities and with drawings of river animals, such as galapagos, turtles and fish, that reflect the biodiversity that citizens must take care of.

The Minister of Environment and Tourism, Manuel Blasco has put the gloves to participate in the inauguration of the campaign

The first to be dressed in paint boats have been the 3rd grade students of the Sancho Ramírez public school Huesca, who have been happy to be able to put their grain of sand to keep the city clean. The idea is to collaborate “as many schools as they want,” explained the technical director of the Aquarius of Zaragoza, Javier González.

The importance of starting with the little ones

The Minister of Environment and Tourism, Manuel Blasco has also put on gloves to participate in the inauguration of the campaign, which is “a call for attention to children, who will stop being children, they will be young, they will be older, they will instill this to their children and we will have managed to improve the environment,” he explained.

Zaragoza has been the first destination for this action, that the Government wanted to frame within the Environment Week, although those responsible have shown their intention to also take it to other parts of the community, and have assured that it will last “until there is not a single role in the sewers of Aragon”.

The campaign adds to other education and conservation activities promoted by the Zaragoza Aquarium Foundation

For González, the sewers “are still arteries that end in the Ebro River, and the Ebro end at sea, so I have made a button on Alfonso Street and ends in the Mediterranean.” The accumulation of waste such as butts or wrappers in the sewerage generates health problems, increases pollution, aggravates ecological risk and carries an extra cost in cleanliness. 

Likewise, they do not allow the sewerage to carry out its function correctly, which is to collect the water from the streets, which can cause floods in case of floods. Initiatives such as this, which have developed in other Spanish cities and countries such as Mexico, Belgium or Costa Rica, promote the responsible use of public space.

Adds to other actions

The campaign adds to other education and conservation activities promoted by the Zaragoza Aquarium Foundation. Only in this course have passed through their 2,000 school environmental workshops, within a total of 15,000 planned educational visits. In addition, university training programs and conservation projects are developed such as the breeding of the frog of the Pyrenees or the reinforcement of European Galapago populations in collaboration with the Government of Aragon and the Zaragoza City Council.

The Zaragoza Aquarium Foundation has recently been awarded the Aragon Environment Award in the category of contribution to the knowledge and dissemination of the environment. A distinction that reinforces your mission of educating to preserve biodiversity.