City in the Community (CITC) has awarded a Premier League Primary Stars participant with an extra special experience, having his water bottle designed made into a real product.

Back in January, CITC developed and delivered a bespoke football-based curriculum to educate and inspire children across Manchester around local and global water challenges and solutions.

Over six weeks, coaches engaged with 2,000 children in 80 primary schools on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), water sustainability and the importance of water conservation.

Tom Upton, Primary Schools Officer, said: “The water project was delivered to all our partner schools this January, raising awareness of water sustainability and encouraging the children to think about how much water they use and what they could do to reduce this.

“The project was well received by the schools and children and finished with a special World Water Day festival at the City Football Academy to celebrate the project in March”.

Students have also had the unique opportunity to design their own sustainable water bottles, with a standout water bottle design being chosen to be produced into actual water bottles to share out with the students’ class.

The winning student, Peter, received the news that he had won the water bottle design competition in a special assembly with his classmates, where they also received the final product.

Coaches delivered a combination of classroom and pitch-based sessions, including interactive tasks for the children to take part in.

To complement the programme taking place in schools, Xylem have built a Water Tower at the Etihad Stadium as an educational pillar to help raise awareness of water issues around the world and right here in Manchester.

This joint initiative is supporting projects in Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Buenos Aires and Manchester, and aims to reach 10,000 young people this season with vital water education and water access.