“Solar Cup is one of the most successful education programs of Metropolitan, its member agencies and local water agencies,” said Metropolitan General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger. Nearly 700 students from 42 high schools in six Southern California counties will launch Metropolitan Water District’s ninth annual Solar Cup program Saturday, Nov. 6, as they build hulls for the solar-powered boats they will equip and race. The seven-month program, which began in 2002 with just eight teams and about 80 students, has become the nation’s largest solar-powered boat competition. Along the way, Solar Cup has encouraged many participants to attend college and to pursue careers in engineering, science, environmental issues and communication.
Beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday, about half of the teams will gather at Three Valleys Municipal Water District headquarters in Claremont to build identical, canoe-like hulls out of kits of pre-cut, marine-grade plywood. The remaining teams will gather at Three Valleys Nov. 13. Once the hulls are completed, the teams take them back to their schools to equip them over the next seven months with motors, batteries, solar-collection panels, rudders and steering systems. Often, they add an eye-catching paint or varnish job. As part of the education program, Metropolitan provides the hull kits and tool boxes and sponsors technical workshops for the teams and their teachers/advisors that represent schools in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. Metropolitan’s member public water agencies and, in some cases, local water retailers, sponsor the teams to help equip their boats.
The program concludes with the Solar Cup competition May 13-15 at Metropolitan’s Lake Skinner near Temecula in southwestern Riverside County, where the teams will compete in endurance and sprint races. The event is open to the public.The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving 19 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 resource-management programs.
SOLAR CUP RACE
VISIT THE SOLAR WALL
