2025

Water sustains our health, our communities, and our planet. Ensuring that future generations understand its value is crucial, and the continued support of the Ontario Wildlife Foundation helps to make this vital work happen.

For 23 years, the Peterborough Children’s Water Festival (PCWF) has empowered youth to explore, protect, and cherish this vital resource. Held along the beautiful banks of the Odenaabe (Otonabee) River in Nogojiwanong (Peterborough), on May 27th and 28th, 2025, the festival brings together educators, water quality experts, conservation groups, industry leaders, and government partners to create an engaging and meaningful learning experience. Through interactive, curriculum-linked programming, we inspire 1,400 elementary students annually to discover the science of water, understand its cultural importance, and learn to conserve and protect it – all while having fun!

The PCWF is a true community collaboration, with a Steering Committee that includes representatives from GreenUP, the City of Peterborough, Peterborough Utilities Inc, Riverview Park and Zoo, Otonabee Conservation, Trent University, and local school boards. Alongside over 20 other supporting organizations and individual donors, your partnership ensures the continued success of this vital initiative, and helps to keep it free for students so that every child, regardless of economic barriers, has an opportunity to participate.

For 23 years, the PCWF has successfully demonstrated the benefit and power of collaborative water education within Peterborough and the Kawarthas. To date, a total of 31,642 elementary students and 6,934 teachers and parent helpers have now attended the PCWF to celebrate water and their relationship with it.

Locally, the PCWF brings together the expertise of educators, water specialists, conservation groups, industry, and government from across Peterborough to effectively deliver current and relevant messages about water on a set of themes:

• Water conservation – the responsible use of water in our daily lives;
• Water cultural perspectives – historical and present day uses of water and attitudes toward water;
• Water technology – how water is treated, stored and distributed throughout the community;
• Water protection – the interdependence of water, soil, plants, animals, and people, and positive steps people can take to keep water clean; and
• Water science – the water cycle, surface and groundwater flow, and aquatic environments.

The goals of the PCWF are to: nurture an appreciation of water in our youth, build an awareness of their relationship with water, and inspire them to take action in their daily lives to protect and conserve water.

Strong organizational partnerships throughout the community is an added benefit of the festival, these partners help us to reach a broader audience with our important messaging.