Hosting sustainable events is about going back to basics; MTD Water tell us how you can boost your environmental impact by thinking about your water supply.
Water is a necessity we all use without thinking. It’s always there. But how often do we stop to question how it gets there for us to drink, or wash? Who controls the water supply and how do they decide how to manage details like how much is needed, when it will arrive, and how to distribute it? Event planners have always had to prepare for these fundamental needs before hosting any event, but now they’re also tackling how to do it sustainably.
MTD Water, an international company based in Holland but working in the UK, specialises in providing pure water to events by building on-site water infrastructures. Jason Harryman, Sales Manager at MTD Water says: “Realistically in terms of volume, there are only two ways of supplying water to events. You either have a mains water supply, or you bring water to the site.” Providing water sustainably can be a challenge. In the past, an event kept its guests hydrated by pallet buying bottled water, but going forward we need to cut down on plastic waste. We encourage tap water use at events and have taps in our range to achieve this.
“At the Farnborough International Air Show in 2022, our Auto Refill Stations received 28 visitors in ten minutes. Now that’s around 28 litres of water, so that’s 28 bottles which weren’t discarded.” says Jason. If we consider this rate continued throughout the day then, over six hours, 1,008 plastic bottles were saved, showing how making sustainable swaps in water distribution can make a monumental difference in less than a day.
It’s not just plastic waste reduction we can improve when changing to a more eco-friendly water supply, the impact your water supply makes to its surroundings is also an area for improvement.
Instead of receiving water from mains supply like we have in our homes, MTD Water uses an overground infrastructure which leaves no trace to the land it is installed upon. Jason says: “We don’t want to interfere with the landscape and its surroundings. We’re not digging pipes into the ground, we don’t want to be there longer than we have to be. We want zero impact on the landscape and to respect the ground that we’re on.”
Avoiding permanent transformation of the landscape by digging up land ensures the landscape, and its fragile eco-system, isn’t needlessly disrupted for a one-time event. Especially in the case of rural events where there could be surrounding wildlife to consider. Considering how we can remove ourselves efficiently from a venue is just as necessary as planning how to set up.
The expansive task of ensuring an event is sustainable takes plenty of cooperation, extending even to the guests of events. When asked about what the future holds, Jason turned the attention to event planners and goers to be more involved in the process: “We need to educate people to come to events prepared and knowledgeable about the effect of their actions. Something as small as bringing refillable bottles makes a difference.” Another pressing matter for water suppliers currently is the disposal of E-cigarettes. Their lithium batteries, which if contaminated into the water supply, leak harmful chemicals or even explode.
Providing water to events is a joint responsibility between the supplier and user: “We’ve got to look after each other,” says Jason.
For more than 35 years MTD has provided high quality equipment and the latest technology for the optimal supply and treatment of temporary water infrastructures for both drinking water and wastewater in the events industry.
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