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Water Amnesty


What is Water Amnesty?

Water Amnesty is a water saving month which runs 15 October - 13 November 2009.  Staff and students are encouraged to cut down water use by 30%. We will then pass part of the savings to One Water, a water Charity which builds playpumps in sub Saharan Africa.

Do you know how much water you use per day? Do you know how much water the University uses every day? (Click here for a correct answer.)

Over 1 billion people don't have access to clean water. Water is a finite resource and intrinsically linked with carbon emissions and climate change.

Our approach is three-fold:

  • We aim to empower individuals to wise water use. 
  • We will make sure the University's water consumption is kept to a minimum through infrastructure improvements and awareness raising.
  • We want to highlight the importance of our social responsibility and our ability to tackle the world's problems through our own actions and awareness raising.

What happens during the month at the University?

There will be events throughout the month; we will share water saving tips and facts, explore the link between carbon and water and find out why it is so crucial to use water moderately.

What can you do?

  • Start saving water: Have a look at our water saving tips and facts and see what changes you can make in your own water use. 
  • Keep Water Diary to track your water usage (Download a pdf version here). iPhone users: get an app by clicking here.
  • Pick up your water hippo to save water with each flush and Water Gel for your plants from our Water desks.
  • Do you have a compelling water saving idea to share? Send us a picture or drop us a line and you might win a prize for the best water saving idea. 
  • Follow us on Twitter (search: WaterAmnesty and CSRWestminster)
  • Students in the Halls of Residence, you are our key people in this campaign through savings you can make in the Halls.
  • Participate in the events throughout the month.
  • Report leaking taps/toilets to reception: One leaking tap wastes 5000 litres of water a year. 

Links

Water saving tips & facts

Water Diary

Water Amnesty Twitter

CSR Westminster Twitter

More water saving tips

                                             

More about the project

Water Amnesty is a project instigated by Free Radicals. Supported by NESTA Free Radicals is a growing group of academics which explores cross-disciplinary thinking and develops collaborative projects to address the world's problems. Water Amnesty is one of the projects through which the group aims to further social responsibility as an integral part of higher education.

Jeremy Till, the Dean of the School of Architecture and the Built Environment is the Free

Radical of the University of Westminster.

Your direct water use: 150 litres per day.

The University: approximately 473000 litres per day (473 cubic metres).

Water Amnesty wrap up

Water Amnesty closed on 15 November. We managed to cut our water use by 15%. Thank you for making this happen! In pounds this means savings of over £3,500.