Community of Great Torrington start their Local Water Forum

A Local Water Forum is a group of people from a village, town or city who want to participate in actions which will contribute to solving water-related problems. Everyone is welcome to join; young and old, local councillors, scientists, businesspeople, artists, nature lovers and citizens who are concerned about the future of the planet and want to do something about it at a local level.

During the first online sessions, the community of Great Torrington met together with members of the local council, South West Water, and researchers of the Fiware4Water team from the Centre for Water Systems. After introductions, there was a discussion about the global water situation as well as local water issues.

The following online sessions were an opportunity for the community to brainstorm and discuss ideas for a water awareness campaign; activities and events that would get the town talking about water and people’s usage. Ben Ward and Josh Pocock from SWW were also on hand to take questions about the new smart water meters that are being installed in the town. There was keen interest from the community to be involved in helping SWW to design the app.

The forum decided to lead on two activities which will be published in local 'The Crier' magazine. This includes creating a fun activity pack for children and designing a list of ‘quick fixes’ to demonstrate how people can reduce water usage. It will be out in June!