Water & Wastewater Treatment

14 | NOVEMBER 2015 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk Industry leader Patric Bulmer, Head of Environment Strategy, Bristol Water "It's changed the feel of the city... the expectation is that we will be outstanding for environmental protection." Interview by James Brockett W hen Bristol was awarded the status of European Green Capital for 2015 by the European Commission, it was both recognition of the environmental work already going on in the city, and a challenge for businesses and organisations across multiple sectors to raise these efforts to a new level. It was also third time lucky for the bidding team – with Bristol losing out to Nantes in 2013 and Copenhagen in 2014 – and so the city's authorities were well-prepared and well positioned to do exactly that. With water playing a vital part of any city's environment, Patric Bulmer of Bristol Water was a key player in presenting Bristol's bid to Brussels and has chaired the Green Capital Water Group responsible for delivering associated initiatives in the water sphere. He said that while the status of Green Capital did not come with a pot of money, it has provided a valuable impetus for all the city's stakeholders to work together on environmental initiatives, and for businesses in particular to come on board. "What it does is highlight the sustainability agenda across a much broader platform than would previously have been the case," says Bulmer. "Suddenly, you get businesses who think, 'we really must be involved in that', and that's quite encouraging to see. For example, we've got a large number of law companies in Bristol, and some of them have offered to provide pro bono legal advice to projects, as a way of demonstrating their own responsibility. That's just an example of one sector and there are plenty of others – there's been a real grass roots response." The centrepiece initiative from the water group's perspective has been a special drinking fountain in Bristol's Millennium Square. Adorned with art from a local artist, the fountain is fitted with continuous high- frequency logging technology and camera surveillance to gather data about its use; this is being linked with waste initiatives, with the aim of achieving a quantifiable reduction in plastic bottle use in the area. The fountain is also fitted with a small hydropower unit, generating a small amount of electricity from the mains flow, which both showcases a useful technology and provides educational benefits for the public. "In many cities across the UK drinking fountains have been taken out because they are regarded as something of a problem, rather than a city asset," says Bulmer. "And it's true that there are snags and difficulties associated with getting a drinking water fountain into a public place. But there is also very little evidence available on the actual social benefit of doing it. The fountain has given something like 50,000 drinks this year - if one in five of those would have been a plastic bottle, then that's 10,000 plastic bottles that don't end up in watercourses or taking up space in bins." A supporting initiative is 'Refill Bristol' where Patric Bulmer and Green Capital partners at the drinking fountain in Millennium Square

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