Water fest teaches safe practices

Rain, rain, go away — but please do so in an environmentally sound manner.

The World O! Water Festival at the Chalco Hills Recreation Area at Wehrspann Lake on Sunday gave approximately 3,500 visitors plenty of ideas for dealing with storm water. Children and their parents learned about rain gardens, rain barrels, flood plains, sewer systems and more.

The City of Omaha, Keep Omaha Beautiful and the Papillion Creek Watershed Partnership collaborated on the festival for the fifth-straight year. The festival featured 55 exhibits, free food, games and canoe rides.

Jim Kee, who monitors water quality for the City of Omaha, said the aim of the festival is to “raise awareness about storm water runoff” that damages lakes and streams.

“If you look at the huge amounts of storm water that go directly into our lakes and streams you see that it often carries large amounts of pollutants along with it,” Kee said.