ech2o win an SWIG award for Be Water Aware! in Hackney Schools
We are really pleased to announce that we won first prize in the behaviour change category at the recent inaugural SWIG awards held in the fabulous surroundings of the top floor of City Hall with stunning views over the River Thames.
Cath at SWIG Awards with Dusty Gedge of living roofs.org and John Griggs of CIHPE. Photo by Daniella Sinagoga.
Be Water Aware! is a workshop/series of workshops we run with school pupils and Housing Association tenants across the UK, focusing on participants understanding exactly where they use most water and how simple behavioural change solutions, combined with low tech water efficiency devices can result in large amounts of water saved.
This particular project was in conjunction with Hackney City Farm as part of their 60 steps to 60% initiative. We worked directly with 2,403 pupils and 120 teachers across 10 schools. We estimated that the cumulative saving from pupils and teachers reducing their hot water use at home was 16,751m3 of hot water and 174.5 tonnes of CO2. You can download an overview of the project or the detailed report.
From the award citation speech by John Griggs CIPHE
“Be Water Aware is a project that if rolled out through the country could have great benefits for the UK’s water and energy consumption.”
SWIG is the Sustainable Water Industry Group and ech2o are proud to be an inaugural member. As its name suggests it is an interdisciplinary group, with the idea that 'whole system thinking' needs to be applied to sustainable water management to optimise results. Participants include manufacturers, installers, professionals, consultants, designers, academics and others from across industry.
The Awards ceremony was attended by over 100 delegates all involved in providing sustainable water solutions to the built environment. There was a variety of different categories. Other winners included Konserve for the Drainwave; the AECB for their Water Standards; Aquality for the Eco Compac pump for rainwater harvesting systems; and Epping Golf Course who collect rainwater run-off from the course, store it in water hazards and use it to water the greens.