Canyon High School Team Wins Three-Day Solar-Powered Boat Competition Sponsored by Metropolitan

Business Wire, June 1, 2003

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TEMECULA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 1, 2003

Sunny days and thoughtful nautical design resulted today in the first-place trophy going to the Canyon (Anaheim) High School team at the conclusion of the three-day Solar Splash competition sponsored regionally by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and its member public water agencies.

Taking second place in the races at Lake Skinner, near Hemet, were students from Long Beach Polytechnic High and third place went to Valley View High in Moreno Valley. Other schools competing were Newbury Park Adventist Academy, Moorpark High, Centennial High, Bonita High, and Paloma Valley High.

"This has been enormous fun," Metropolitan President and Chief Executive Officer Ronald R. Gastelum said at this afternoon's awards ceremony, "and we salute the schools, students and teachers who participated."

"For Metropolitan," Gastelum said, "the program has been an excellent adjunct to our education programs, as it dovetails with our concern for stewardship of natural resources, education programs on water supply and water quality, and interest in eco-friendly watercraft for our reservoirs."

Solar Splash is an international program, mostly at the college level, with this weekend's competition being the first held in California. Foreseeing an ongoing sponsorship, Gastelum said in coming years the competition will be held in partnership with the Center for Water Education.

Lake Skinner, near Temecula, another of Metropolitan's reservoirs, has public campgrounds that the Solar Splash competitors and their advisors made into their own Olympic village for the weekend.

For the past six months, Solar Splash participants at the six high schools have applied their math, physics and design skills to the project. Identical wooden hulls were provided each team. Teams also were awarded $3,000 to outfit their boats with engines, solar panels and batteries by the Metropolitan member water agency serving their school: Calleguas Municipal Water District, Western Municipal Water District, Eastern Municipal Water District, and the cities of Anaheim and Long Beach.

"Although the hulls are identical, the entries all look like completely different boats," said Julie Miller, a teacher in Metropolitan's education programs and Solar Splash manager. "The differences are in the way they have arranged their solar panels and engines, and of course in their paint colors and lettering."

"One requirement is that each craft carry a person weighing a minimum of 130 pounds," Miller added. "Some of the teams are putting in girls in their boats who need to add bags of rocks to bring the weight up to 130!"

Qualifying inspections -- making sure the boats met the rules -- were held Friday, with 90-minute endurance heats run on Saturday to see how many laps a craft could do within the time limit. Nine heats of racing were held this morning and afternoon.

Metropolitan Chairman Phillip J. Pace noted in opening ceremonies that, "It is my hope that Solar Splash becomes an annual event and part of the program for the Center for Water Education, for which ground will be broken at Diamond Valley Lake on June 20. The center will be a place of thinking and sharing creativity, much like what we are experiencing here this weekend."

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving 18 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and helps its members to develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage and other water-management programs.

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