The awards are divided into seven categories:
- communication – for water efficiency projects where communication has played a major role in their success, for example, projects might involve school-age children, local communities, the general public or staff teams, and need to show clear evidence of how the project was developed for the audience identified, what impact it had, and how it has been evaluated;
- community projects – which recognises water efficiency and conservation projects that work for and with the local community and, in particular, should demonstrate collaboration and partnership, providing direct benefits to the local community;
- industry and business – for best practice projects in industry and business in the UK from encouraging staff to conserve water to improved manufacturing processes, and should show innovation, clear evidence of process methodology and how the project has been communicated within the organisation and beyond;
- agriculture and horticulture – for entrants from all aspects of agriculture, from growers and arable farmers, to dairy producers and nurseries;
- economic research – for UK water companies and operators only, for projects that have significantly contributed to the understanding of the economics of water efficiency initiatives directed at household customers;
- public sector – open to local government, government agencies, education institutions, the National Health Service, military establishments and the police; and
- research and innovation – to recognise the contribution of both research and innovation to the understanding and development of approaches to water efficiency and water conservation, in which entries might relate to specific projects that required technical innovation in order to achieve improved water consumption or paper-based research on issues relating to implementing water conservation activities.
“Water could be costing your company over 1% of business turnover! By using simple and inexpensive measures, this can typically be reduced by up to 50%. How much is that worth to your bottom line?” asked Stuart Ballinger of Envirowise.
Organisations with water conservation projects active or completed between January 1999 and December 2000 are eligible to enter. A shortlist of entries will be available in September, with the awards presented in November. Potential entrants should contact Paula Wood from the National Water Demand Management Centre by 20 July on 01903 832073 or Rhiannon James at Water UK’s Awards Office on 020 7344 1888.