A pilot program is providing Bay Area high school students with lessons on the importance of where their local water comes from, the systems that bring it to their homes, and the threats to the supply. Four years ago, East Bay native Nina Gordon-Kirsch stuffed a backpack, laced up her shoes, and started on a 240-mile trek from Oakland to Highland Lakes near Ebbets Pass in the Sierra Nevada. Her goal was to trace the source of her drinking water and to inspire her students to know more about their local drinking water and to think about conservation. Today her journey continues in Oakland classrooms as Gordon-Kirsch heads up a pilot program for Bay Area high school students.