Information about past and future Water Efficiency Awards.
The winners of the Environment Agency and Waterwise UK Water Efficiency Awards 2012, supported by Bosch and Methven, were announced on 17 September 2012 at the House of Lords. The winners range from the creative to the practical and demonstrate a variety of ways of cutting water consumption.
You can find case studies of the winners on the Waterwise website:
What are the Water Efficiency Awards?
The Water Efficiency Awards are the only scheme in the UK to celebrate the achievements of public, private and third sector organisations who:
- shout about water efficiency and encourage action
- solve problems and overcome barriers to enable action
- save water by engaging with water users.
This year the Environment Agency teamed up with Waterwise to launch the awards. This has expanded the audience and raised the profile of the awards nationally.
The awards continue to build on the success of previous Environment Agency awards, which were held bi-annually between 2001 and 2009.
Water Efficiency Awards 2012
The categories for this year's Water Efficiency Awards include:
- Environment Agency Chairman's Award
- Exemplar Project in Wales
- Exemplar Project in Northern Ireland
- Exemplar Project in Scotland
- Built Environment
- Research and Evaluation
- Landscape and Gardening
- Community-led Initiative
- Business and Industry
- Farming and Horticulture
- Innovation
- Campaigns and Education
Sponsors this year included Defra, Welsh Government, Ofwat, Polypipe, Hozelock, Homebase, Business Stream, Kettle Crisps and Water Security.
Why does water efficiency matter?
Water is essential for life. It's a precious resource that supports our livelihoods and our quality of life.
In the UK demand on water resources is growing. Despite common pre-conceptions about our weather, we actually have much less water available per head than some Mediterranean countries such as Italy or Spain! The effects of climate change will add to these pressures. Every drop we use means less for wildlife.
All our water supply has to be treated before and after use - this consumes energy and releases greenhouse gases. In fact, if a family of four with a typical shower all reduced their showering time from six to five minutes every day, they could save around 160 Kg of CO2 emissions and 14,000 litres of water a year.
Organisations need to be water-aware, for the sake of our natural environment and on behalf of staff or shareholders. The water bill of a manufacturing firm can represent up to one per cent of business turnover. Businesses in the retail, hospitality and service sectors are often wasting up to half of all the water they use.
The Water Efficiency Awards are an opportunity to highlight and showcase best examples of water efficiency initiatives in different sectors, to stimulate application, uptake and dissemination of best practice.
It's vital that organisations and individuals take responsibility to use water wisely to protect our valuable natural environment.
