Promotion of water consumption in elementary schools: evaluation of the 'H2NOE Water Schools' program

Abstract Background Children often do not drink enough water. Consumption of water is associated with several health benefits, including prevention of overweight and reduction of dental caries. Drinking water can also improve children's attention and memory and sufficient water intake is important especially during the school day. A pilot programme to increase the tap water consumption of elementary school children started in 2018 - the “H2NOE Water Schools” in Lower Austria programme. The intervention schools received a free water bottle for each child, an information workshop for teachers and teaching materials. Methods In an intervention study with a control group in a before-and-after design we examined whether the “H2NOE water school” can lead to a change in the drinking behaviour of the pupils. All children of the 3rd grade in the 22 intervention schools (IG) and 32 control schools (CG) were surveyed using a paper-pencil questionnaire in autumn 2018 and in June 2019. We used multi-level analyses taking into account clusters at class level to analyse the beverage consumption data. Results In total, data of 1242 students were available at baseline and 1164 students at the end of the intervention. The consumption of tap water per day improved in both groups in a similar way: in the IG from 4.1 glasses (95% CI 3.8-4.3) to 4.7 (4.5-5.0) and in the CG from 3.1 glasses (95% CI 2.9-3.4) to 3.9 (3.6-4.2). Soft drink consumption remained stable in both groups, but juice consumption decreased in the IG compared to the CG. Conclusions The children in the intervention schools drank more tap water after 1 school year with the intervention than at the beginning. However, this was also evident in the control schools. The measurement of drinking habits in the CG may have been intervention enough to bring about changes or to initiate projects in these schools. The different seasons of the measurement (autumn and early summer) could have an influence on the results. Key messages A school-based intervention providing free water bottles improved the water consumption of elementary school children. The mere measurement of beverage consumption in the control schools also resulted in increased water consumption.