KEEP THE EARTH

CIWEM’s Annual Dinner celebrates and rewards environmental excellence, addresses the challenges ahead, and supports the next generation of water and environmental professionals.

We are participants in a web of life, responsible as stewards ‘to till and keep the earth’ – to develop and husband its resources for all the people of the world and also other life forms. Instead of the self serving way of being which has scarred the earth and polluted the waters, we need a greater awareness and a genuine enlightenment that happiness does not come from accumulating more and more but in sharing ‘enough’ with our neighbour.”

This was the powerful message given by The Bishop of London, The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dr. Richard Chartres, at the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management’s (CIWEM) Annual Dinner, delivered to the 300 strong audience of politicians, senior environmental professionals, environmental artists, consultants and contractors and regulators on 29th May, 2013 at the Draper’s Hall in the historic city area of London. Hosted by CIWEM President, Paul Hillman, and kindly supported by AECOM, Mott MacDonald, Jackson Hyder, HWH & Associates and Grontmij, this is the premier social event to celebrate excellence in the water and environment sector.

Guests responded to the call to support the next generation of professionals by donating nearly £3,000 for CIWEM's youth water prize, Tomorrow's Water. Tomorrow’s Water is the Institution’s charitable initiative aimed at improving environmental education in schools. It provides an opportunity for young people to develop practical and innovative projects aimed at solving water-related and environmental problems for the public benefit.

CIWEM’s prestigious environmental awards were bestowed on the evening to those who have demonstrated innovation and excellence in their work. The 2013 winners were presented with their awards by the CIWEM President and The Bishop of London. The awards were:

The AWEinspiring! (Art, Water & Environment) Award, given in association with the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World was awarded to Platform, a London-based, innovative arts collective.

The Living Wetlands Award went to Upstream Thinking, South West Water’s innovative initiative that has helped restore thousands of acres of wetlands.

The CIWEM Young Members Award, sponsored by Jacobs, was awarded to Pippa Lawton, Senior Scientist and Project Manager with Royal HaskoningDHV.

The Outstanding Water and Environmental Journal Paper went to Mike Gardner of Atkins, for his paper, Improving the interpretation of ‘less than’ values in environmental monitoring.

The Outstanding Journal of Flood Risk Management Paper was received by Anthony Hurford of HR Wallingford, for Validating the return period of rainfall thresholds used for Extreme Rainfall Alerts by linking rainfall intensities with observed surface water flood events.

CIWEM’s Executive Director, Nick Reeves, OBE said: “The Bishop of London’s message lies at the heart of the quest for a sustainable and resilient future and should inform our thinking about the way we live, work and conduct our business day-to-day. It fits well with CIWEM’s public-benefit ethos and the values of our members.”

The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) is an independent professional body and a registered charity, advancing the science and practice of water and environmental management for a clean, green and sustainable world. www.ciwem.org

Tomorrow’s Water is CIWEM’s annual scientific water competition aimed at pre-university students that encourages educational projects focused on improving quality of life and/or the environment through topical water issues. The winning project in the United Kingdom goes on to compete in the International Stockholm Junior Water Prize, one of the world's most prestigious student competitions for water related research. More information can be found online at http://www.ciwem.org/competition-and-awards/about.aspx.

More information on CIWEM’s Living Wetlands, Young Member and AWEinspiring! awards and 2013 winners can be found at http://www.ciwem.org/competition-and-awards/about.aspx.

The Outstanding Water and Environmental Journal Paper, Improving the interpretation of ‘less than’ values in environmental monitoring by Mike Gardner was published in the June 2012 issue, (Volume 26, Issue 2) and is available online at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-6593.2011.00287.x/abstract.

The Outstanding Journal of Flood Risk Management Paper, Validating the return period of rainfall thresholds used for Extreme Rainfall Alerts by linking rainfall intensities with observed surface water flood events, by A.P. Hurford, D.J. Parker, S.J. Priest and D.M. Lumbroso, was published in the June 2012 issue (Volume 5, Issue 2), and is available online at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1753-318X.2012.01133.x/abstract.

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