Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/682833
18 Community Project of the Year Winner Northumbrian Water Group For its Water Rangers, a dedicated group of enthusiastic volunteers who are trained to spot signs of pollution in water courses and report back to the company. Last year, the rangers reported 105 issues – six led to self-reports to the EA, and almost half concerned ‚ y tipping. What the judges said: "This was a very tough decision but Waterblade just edged it. The water saving device helps to address water security and resilience. It focuses on handwashing and is a universal ‡ t on standard taps. Waterblade is genuinely innovative. It's a simple concept – but then all the best innovations are" What the judges said: "This is an absolutely genius idea. It's simple but clever – especially as the public are already walking along rivers" Outstanding Individual Contribution to the Water Industry Winner Waterblade Waterblade is a device for taps that takes a trickle of water and makes it useful for hand washing. It spreads the water out into a paper thin sheet of water through which the hands can be drawn. Highly commended: Bristol Water for the Biodiversity Index, an innovative approach used to quantify biodiversity at sites or during oŒ -site project work. The index helps manage and monitor eŒ ect on the environment. Finalist: Northern Ireland Water and its Cares Challenge, a scheme that allows all of the company's staŒ to become involved in charitable and community activity along with its role in improving the environment and supporting local communities. Finalist: Severn Trent Water for its Gloucestershire water supply scheme, which comprised comprehensive face-to-face stakeholder liaison s well as using technology to minimise public disruption. Finalist: Southern Water for its Hastings Catchment scheme, where it combined technical solutions with a collaborative community education programme to address the root causes of poor bathing water performance. Finalist: Southern Water for its Elm Grove Primary School Scheme, designed to help raise awareness and in‚ uence perceptions and attitudes to celebrate the importance of water. Savings of £5K/yr have been achieved through a combination of water e— cient retro‡ t products and new ‡ tments. Finalist: Surfers Against Sewage and its Safer Seas Service, a national real-time water quality service that protects the public from pollution. The free service alerts the public when sewer over‚ ows discharge untreated human sewage and stormwater into the sea.