Date: 04 April 2008
Local North Down and Ards Friends of the Earth group will benefit from Glen Water’s recent success in a World Environment Day Competition. Through one of its joint venture partners, Laing O’Rourke, Glen Water won a £1,000 prize for the best initiatives developed to support World Environment Day, held last June. Glen Water was keen that a locally based environmentally focussed charity benefit from the money and asked local charities to submit proposals outlining how they would use the funds if successful.
The proposal from North Down and Ards Friends of the Earth focussed on raising awareness of the benefits of using water butts, an 
innovative water saving device that can be used in homes or in public buildings to collect rainwater. Almost 100,000 litres of rainwater falls on our roofs each year so by collecting it in a water butt, you have a ready source of water that can help keep your garden looking lush and green or provide water for washing your car.
“We were very impressed by the standard and quality of the entries,” said Jim Conlon, General Manager, Glen Water. “The response proves that there is a genuine awareness and concern about environmental issues within Northern Ireland.”
“The purpose of our competition was to encourage more people to think about global warming and other environmental problems. The North Down and Ards Friends of the Earth proposal appealed to the judges as it clearly demonstrated an ability to positively impact further on the local community,” add Mr Conlon.
“With the UK Climate Change Bill becoming law in 2007 we all need to mitigate for the effects of climate change and plan and implement measures to adapt to this change,” said Annie Armson of North Down and Ards Friends of the Earth. “Water butts collect water which would otherwise be drawn from the public supply or run off into public sewers so they help to reduce the risk of flooding and reduce our carbon footprint,” added Annie.
Friends of the Earth will use the money to buy water butts and will run a competition in the local paper to raise awareness of the benefits of using the device. Winning entries will be presented with a water butt.
Glen Water was selected by Northern Ireland Water in 2006 to deliver Project Omega. A £122 million Private Public Partnership (PPP) programme the scheme will create healthier, cleaner beaches along the North Down/Ards coastline and allow Northern Ireland to meet strict new EU Directives on water quality.
As part of the Project a number of existing Wastewater Treatment Works in the Craigavon, Armagh and Richhill area are also being upgraded in addition to a new pipeline between Seagoe and Ballynacor WWTW’s.
An ecologically-focussed and forward thinking company, Glen Waterdeploys a number of environmentally sustainable construction techniques across all of its building sites.
“We place a great deal of emphasis on eco-friendly building practices on all of our projects. These range from the re-use of all excavated materials, to comprehensive waste disposal techniques and site-to-site car sharing to reduce carbon emissions,” said Peter Dew, Project Leader, Laing O’Rourke.
Photo Caption:
Pictured (l-r) are Betty Armstrong, Lorna Hamilton and Annie Armson from North Down Ards Friends of the Earth alongside Glen Water Community Liaison Manager Richard Caldwell.