SOUTH WEST WATER SCOOPS TWO GONGS AT NATIONAL WATER INDUSTRY AWARDS
An innovative project to preserve wetlands and a new
website giving users live bathing water quality information won
prizes at the annual Water Industry Achievement
Awards.
Upstream Thinking, South West Water's flagship programme of
environmental improvements aimed at improving water quality in
river catchments in order to reduce water treatment costs, was
crowned winner of the Partnership Initiative of the Year
category.
The ambitious project, which aims to restore wetlands and promote
catchment sensitive farming, is delivered in partnership with a
range of organisations including the Westcountry Rivers Trust,
Dartmoor National Park Authority, Exmoor National Park Authority,
Devon Wildlife Trust, Cornwall Wildlife Trust and the Environment
Agency.
South West Water was the first water company to implement catchment
management across its region, on land that the company does not
own, and Upstream Thinking was endorsed in the recent Water White
Paper, Water for Life.
Beach Live (www.beachlive.co.uk) was
declared winner of the Community Project of the Year
category. The website was launched by South West Water in
June 2011 to give live bathing water information at 21 popular or
Blue Flag beaches across Devon and Cornwall. It was developed
in partnership with the Environment Agency, Surfers Against Sewage,
tourism leaders, local authorities and beach managers and is set to
be expanded to 40 beaches this summer.
The site also features up-to-the-minute surf and weather forecasts
plus information about beach facilities, past bathing water quality
awards and details of how the public can do their bit to avoid
pollution by proper waste disposal.
South West Water chief executive, Chris Loughlin, said: 'This is
fantastic news and we are very proud that two of our key projects
have been acknowledged in this way. Sustainability, the environment
and working in partnership and with our local communities is at the
heart of what we do here so it is great to be recognised for our
work in these areas. These awards are a testament to the hard work
of our staff and all our partners.'
Back
