WATEF Newsletter December 2017


(image reproduced from Free Vintage Illustrations using Creative Commons licence)

Wishing our members a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


WATEF Conference 2018 #WATEFConf2018

For those of our members who have not been able to submit abstracts - there is still time to do this - please submit using the instructions here - please note if you do not already have an Easy Chair log in - you will need to create your account before you can upload your abstract.  Any problems please e-mail us we are always happy to help.

A Review of the WATEF Year:

This year we have gained more members and our Technical Committees have been very active arranging events.   Here is a short overview of this year's events.

WATEF Study Trip - 5th to 7th April 2017:    Delegates travelled to Valencia - a truly charming medieval city - whose many attractions include Europe's only "water court" and of course the famous City of Arts & Sciences.  The full report and photos can be found here.  Details of the study trip for 2018 will be available in the New Year.

National Lift Tower site visit - 6th July 2017:  This was arranged via our Water Reuse and SWM Technical Committee and our thanks are extended to Phil Henry of Polypipe for his help in organising this.  Our visit to the National Lift Tower was both informative and interesting and was topped up by the spectacular views from the roof!  You can see the full report here

Water Recycling and Reuse Event - 27 July 2017: Again this event was arranged via our Water Reuse and SWM Technical Committee and our thanks are extended to Neil Pendle and Kevin Reed of Waterscan for facilitating this insight into water reuse within a large hotel chain.  Their colleague Barry Millar gave us a full demonstration of how greywater recycling can assist with both water efficiency and cost savings.  More information is available here

BRE Flood Resilience Visit - 12 September 2017: The People and Communities Technical Committee set up a visit to BRE facilitated by Dr Mindy Hadi.   The main purpose of the visit was to learn more about flood resilience and in particular visit the Flood Resilient House.  Our delegates spent an enjoyable day at BRE and our thanks are extended to Jo Prior, Stephen Garvin and John O'Brien who gave us a better understanding of how flood resilience is being built into community life.  Again the full report can be found here

Creating the Digital Story of Water Sector - Wholesale/Retail Separation - 23 November 2017:  This event was organised by the Service Innovation Technical Committee and held at Arup's offices in London.  Our thanks are extended to Martin Shouler and his team for their help in facilitating this.  Here is a brief report of the day's events.   A full digital report of the event will be published on the website early in the New Year.

Staffing Changes:    After 4 years of working as the Project Co-ordinator for the WATEF network Suzy Armsden has decided to step down.  Suzy's replacement who will "take over the baton" from 1st January is Eleanor Eaton.   She can be contacted here.   Please join us in welcoming Eleanor to the network.

  Eleanor has worked at the University of Bath for two years, supporting projects on the economics of climate change, health and housing.  Most recent projects include UPSTREAM: quantifying the health impacts of high and low quality urban environments, and ECONADAPT: the economics of adaptation to climate change. 
Before joining the University of Bath, Eleanor spent over ten years in heritage management.  She was Visitor Services Manager for the National Trust in Wiltshire, including the World Heritage Site of Avebury.  She was also Director of the Bath Preservation Trust, an architectural charity which campaigns to protect the City’s historic built environment.

My sincere and heartfelt gratitude to Suzy for her hard work and commitment to the network over the past few years. During this time, our membership and impact has grown significantly, our technical committees are flourishing, and we have been able to deliver innovative events in collaboration with our members and supporters. I will miss Suzy as a colleague but glad that our friendship will continue. Please join me in thanking Suzy for her relentless service and in wishing her well in her future endeavours.

Please read our December blog and use #WATEFBLOG when sending your Tweets - thank you!  We would love to hear your watery tales so if you wish to become a WATEF blogger please let us know
Lastly please don't forget to follow us on Twitter(@WatefNetwork).

Dr Kemi Adeyeye (Lead - WATEF Network)