Drinking Water in Primary schools - Waterschools Vienna (Austria)

The importance of drinking water in schools is well known among teachers. Meanwhile most of kindergarten and school pedagogues allow water drinking during their lessons and they try to encourage pupils to drink water in the classroom. Nevertheless, based on our own research, about half of the kids in Austrian schools do not meet their minimum hydration requirements. To meet the requirements, it takes more than the permission to drink, it is necessary to implement drinking rituals and active promotion of water drinking.

In September 2016 the highly successful project “Wasserschule” in Vienna started. Since then 75 percent of all primary schools with about 50.000 pupils and 3.000 pedagogues became a “waterschool”, what means pupils only drink tap water at school. No other drinks are served or sold in schools, parents don’t send any drinks to school. Pedagogues remind the pupils to drink enough. Each child and teacher got a refillable drinking bottle. Schools got posters with “drinking rituals” for each classroom, pedagogic materials and tools for parental work (take home messages..). All the teachers have been trained to understand the value of drinking water and to help students drink enough.

The project „Waterschool“ was organized and supported by Gutessen Consulting and the Vienna school board and sponsored by Wiener Gesundheitsförderung, Fonds Gesundes Österreich and the water supplier “Wiener Wasser”.

Further information and materials: http://www.gutessen.at/wasserschule-wien.html

The project won the Vienna Health Price 2019, the Education for Sustainable Development - Best of Austria and was nominated for The Austrian State Award PR (categorie Social rescponsibility).