Up to 1,000 high school students from throughout Southern California will begin building solar-powered boats this Saturday, Dec. 9, to compete next year in the fifth annual Solar Cup™ competition sponsored by Metropolitan Water District and its member public water agencies.

Students from a record 46 high schools (see list) have signed up for the 2007 Solar Cup program, making it the largest solar boat competition in the nation, if not the world.  Last month in Sydney, Australia, 30 participants—24 children with small, radio controlled boats and six high school teams with piloted boats—entered an event directly patterned after Solar Cup.

Half of the 46 Solar Cup teams will gather at the Claremont headquarters of Three Valleys Municipal Water District Saturday to build their boats with tool chests and kits of pre-cut marine-grade plywood provided by Metropolitan.  The remaining teams will assemble their boats at Three Valleys Saturday, Dec. 16.  After the boat-building sessions, teams take the completed hulls back to their schools for outfitting.

Solar Cup will be held May 18-20, 2007, at Metropolitan’s Lake Skinner reservoir near Temecula, where teams compete in qualifying events and in speed and endurance races.

“Solar Cup has become one of Metropolitan’s most successful education and outreach programs, teaching high school students hands-on, real-life lessons in electrical and mechanical engineering, teamwork and problem-solving, natural-resources stewardship and water issues,” said MWD General Manager Jeff Kightlinger.

“We also hope it encourages students to continue their educations, and to think of Metropolitan and Southern California’s water agencies when they enter the job market,” Kightlinger added.

Metropolitan’s member public water agencies, local retail water agencies and government agencies sponsor each team with $3,000 to equip the boat with solar panels, motors, batteries and steering systems.

In the coming months, Solar Cup teams are required to attend Saturday workshops at Metropolitan headquarters covering technical issues involved in equipping the boats.  They also are required to submit written reports on technical topics.  Professors and students in the Engineering Department at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, who are contracted as the program’s technical advisors, grade the reports.

Points earned by attending the workshops and submitting the reports are added to scores earned by the teams in competitions at the Solar Cup event.  In addition, during the Solar Cup event teams present a graded, tabletop display of their research and results on a Southern California water issue.

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 resource-management programs.