Sustainable Water Use Birmingham are a social action campaign working to help everyone, everywhere to improve their water sustainability.
The team is made up of 6 young female professionals living and working in Birmingham and the campaign was born out of the UpRising Environmental Leadership Programme 2019/2020.
UpRising's Environmental Leadership Programme (ELP) is a programme providing young people with the opportunity to create an envrionmental campaign to make a positive impact within their community.
Through the ELP you'll attend workshops and events, network with diverse professionals from a range of sectors, and gain skills to become a green leader of your generation. Sign up https://www.uprising.org.uk/get-involved/how-apply
Raise awareness of how water
is currently being used
(unsustainably) on a day to
day basis.

We want to get people to
change their habits and so we post
facts and #TapTips on how to do
this via our social media.
@SWUBham
We have created a Water
Management E-Toolkit for
businesses to help employees
reduce their water use while in the
office.

We are working with University
of Birmingham Estates Team to
reduce water waste on campus.
SWUB's Water Managment Toolkit is a 💦FREE💦 resource that we created to help your workplace save water. We have complied simple and effective #TapTips for each area of your work environment to help you and your colleagues save water at work.
We've also included clickable links to help you get free water saving equipment from your water supplier. Head over to our website to check it out!
http://www.sustainablewateruse.co.uk 
The UpRising sessions gave us the knowledge and skills we needed to create a social action campaign. 💪

The main thing you need is passion and desire to make change for the better on an issue you care about! ❤️
The back bone to our campaign is the Theory of Change model which transforms inputs into outcomes which equals change! The programme co-ordinators and speakers at UpRising are all happy to help you transform your ideas to reality. Everything learnt is great for the CV too! 🤓
We got to hear from speakers from the RSPB, Environment Agency and Extinction Rebellion. It has inspired the campaign project we are working on and given us a network of people with a range of skills who we can call upon.
We covered a range of topics from learning how to write a press release and more about the Green Economy all skills and knowledge you might use as a future sustainability leader.
The UK is famous for its wet and rainy weather, but the nation is at risk of water scarcity. Parts of the UK are dryer than Mumbai and Nairobi! Climate change is altering our weather patterns with predictions of much wetter winters and warmer drier summers (Water UK, 2020)
So how does this contribute to the UKs water insecurity? These changes to Britain's weather will cause more frequent and severe flooding and droughts! Extreme and irrational weather patterns will result in inconsistent water supply and availability.
On top of this the average UK citizen uses 150L of water a day! We need to get this figure much closer to 100L if we want to continue to use water in the same way in the near future. For example a single flush of the toilet uses 10L of perfectly clean water!
Water we take for granted and at times use so unsustainably has consequences for people and planet.
Think about your daily routine and how much of it involves water. Brushing your teeth, washing your clothes, showering and flushing the toilet. Everyday, a person in the UK uses on average 150L of water a day. That's 1,050L a week and 54,750L a year.
Every step we can take to use our water more sustainably reduces our impact on the environment, helping rivers to remain strong and allow ecosystems to flourish 💦
Simple steps like turning the tap off when brushing your teeth, washing your car less regularly and taking shorter showers help keep your daily water usage down and protect our environment! 🚿 🚘 🧼
Water is everywhere and in everything even when you don't realise it. You are using water indirectly with every meal you eat and with every fashion purchase that you make and not every purchase or meal is equal.🍔🥩👗👖
Animal agriculture accounts for 30% of global water use (Cowspicacy, 2015) 🤯and it takes 3,000 litres of water to create just one cotton t-shirt (Oxfam)! So try cutting down your meat intake or shopping second hand to reduce your water footprint!🧵
UpRising's online sessions were fun and breakout zoom rooms meant we could socialise in small groups. Speakers are engaging, interesting and funny! Being online has meant you can access resources and speakers from across the country giving you the best programme.🖥️🎙️
What stood out for me was John from Oxfam who said "Because of social media, in 2020, anyone can be an activist" so being familiar with online is great for making change.
Speaking of online, please check out our social media platforms @SWUBham on Twitter and Insta.
@SWUBham have plans to create another E-Toolkit so that people like you can lobby their MP about water-related issues. This includes governments increasing awareness to the public about UK water scarcity and climate change threat more generally, ensuring that houses are fitted...
...with water efficient devices and endorsing more sustainable practices in the supply chain. ♻️ 💦

For example, you will have seen that the creation of fast fashion items is very water intensive and government regulation on this could make a large impact.
While it has been great to build our brand and platform by raising awareness via social media, we have realised that real systemic change is in the hands of policy makers. Therefore, we want you to be able to voice issues to them using our resources, so stay tuned!
"To receive coaching before even starting a career is an opportunity not many people receive. The purpose of it is to unlock a person’s potential so they can maximise their performance...
... Over the 6 sessions I recognised habits that hindered my potential and made subtle changes in my day to day routine. Cumulatively this made a big impact over lockdown."" - Pavan

"This is the first time I’ve officially had a mentor and I can honestly say I have gained...
...so much from the thought provoking questions I have been asked. Not only has it clarified my goals but my mentor has helped me develop a step by step plan of how to get there”
You can follow @UpRising_UK.
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