Letterkenny man leads the way on Irish 'Water Steward' conservation grad programme

Mark McFadden of Optum Services in Letterkenny recently graduated as a water steward for his organisation at a ceremony at Trinity College Dublin, held by Irish Water.

The programme, the first of its kind globally, is an international best practice certification accredited by the European Water Stewardship Standard.

As part of the initiative Irish Water is now appealing to companies of all sizes within the county to apply for its Water Stewardship Programme.

They say it will involve a comprehensive training programme which will help organisations lower their water use, and in turn, will reduce operating costs and protecting the environment.

More than 600 graduates from a variety of sectors have completed the programme to date with 289 new water stewards graduating at the recent Trinity ceremony.

It is available for organisations in any sector and is fully funded by Irish Water and the Lean & Green Skillnet.

Participants undertake two months of comprehensive virtual training to better understand how to conserve water in their organisation.

Irish Water also recently launched its Annual Certification Scheme, where organisations have the opportunity to be recognised on Irish Water’s Wall of Honour.

Companies across the board have already made significant progress in reducing their water use through participating in Irish Water’s Water Stewardship Programme, resulting in monetary and environmental benefits.

Participants undertake two months of comprehensive virtual training to better understand how to conserve water in their organisation, including: Creating a water map to visualise how and where water is used; 
Reviewing their water monitoring strategy, and investigating how it may be updated/improved;
Identifying short payback water efficiency and conservation projects, such as rainwater harvesting;
Embedding governance processes to actively engage all stakeholders to conserve water as well as developing a water charter as an holistic approach to reducing water in their organisation. 

Those interested in participating in Irish Water’s Water Stewardship Programme can apply on Irish Water’s dedicated webpage: https://www.water.ie

Main caption:

Mark McFadden of Optum Services, Letterkenny, graduated as a water steward for his organisation at a recent ceremony at Trinity College Dublin, held by Irish Water.

He is pictured with Ken Stockil, Water Stewardship Programme Director, Central Solutions, and Yvonne Harris, Irish Water’s Head of Customer Operations. Pic. Maxwell Photography