新潟市域では信濃川、阿賀野川が日本海への出口を求めて長い間彷徨い、海域、汽水域、砂丘、河川、湿地、潟などの複雑な水象・地象が形成されてきた。生物を育み、農業用水・生活水をもたらした水資源は豊な自然の恩恵であると同時に、溢水、泥田、洪水、地盤沈下をももたらしてきた。市内の小中学校の生徒の協力を得て、こうした各種の水象・地象の痕跡を市内の各所からサンプリングし地図上に明示した。特筆すべきはこの試みがSDGsが喧伝される十数年前に新潟市で実施されていたことである。

Water Labyrinth with Hydrological Sampling practice by school children, 2009

In the Niigata City area, the Shinano and Agano Rivers have meandered for a long time in search of an outlet to the Sea of Japan, forming complex water and land forms such as seas, brackish areas, dunes, rivers, wetlands, and lagoons. These water resources, which have nurtured life and provided water for agriculture and daily use, have also led to overflows, muddy fields, floods, and land subsidence. With the cooperation of elementary and middle school students in the city, traces of these various water and land forms were sampled from various locations and marked on maps. Notably, this endeavor was carried out in Niigata City several years before the global promotion of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).