We are working with the Design Council on a pioneering new programme to inspire teenagers to cut their water and carbon footprint.

The Water Design Challenge is an innovative schools programme that challenges secondary school students to use design skills to come up with a solution to reduce water waste in their schools.

Special characters have been developed to take the students on the journey that will involve learning more about water and where it comes from. The characters will help the teenagers investigate how much water they use in their schools and where it is wasted before coming up with creative ways to make savings.

The programme was piloted in five schools in 2010 and involved Key Stage 3 pupils collecting real information about water use across their schools and using an online water footprint calculator to discover how much they are using and where it is being wasted.
Professional designers worked with the schools to help them develop their ideas and design a service, product or system that will reduce water waste in their schools. Their ideas were judged by an expert panel in July.

Excellent ideas were seen by all five schools and it was a very close contest. The winning school received £5,000 to implement their idea.

The 2010 winner of the Water Design Challenge was:

Sholing Technology College, Southampton and their design “The Smallest Water Museum in the World”

Highly Commended was:

The Isle of Sheppey Academy and their design “D’rain Water Collection System”

Excellent ideas were also created by:

Thomas Bennett School in Crawley

Tanbridge House School in Horsham

Thomas Aveling School in Rochester

For more information on the challenge or visit www.waterdesignchallenge.com/