Students work on their paintings on Monday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Colours and imagination of schoolchildren came together on Monday to lend a telling picture on the need to conserve water.

A school-level painting competition on “Care for water before it becomes rare” was organised at the Patna planetarium. Central Ground Water Board working under the ministry of water resources conducted the event.

The competition is being organised in various states. Harsh Kamal from DAV Public School, Cantt Area, Gaya, Yashasvi from Heritage School, Patna, and Subhra Sinha from Government Middle School, Pahari, Patna, bagged the first three positions in the state-level competition that concluded on Monday.

Through their paintings, the children deftly sent out to everyone a message — save water if you want to save your future. While the children used colours to emphasise the issue, experts offered facts to drive home their point.

B.K. Mishra, a faculty member of Patna University, said: “The way the children gave shape and colour to their imagination showed that they are aware as far as the important and limited natural resource of water is concerned. It is very important to store water and not waste it.”

Decrying the wastage of water, he said: “Even while brushing teeth, people leave the tap open. A lot of water is wasted this way.”

Dipankar Saha, director, mid-eastern region, Central Ground Water Board, Patna, said: “The competition’s topic is self-explanatory. The aim was to propagate awareness among children who would take the issue to their elders.”