TV adventurer Ben Fogle has turned his attention to teaching Chesham children how to save water as part of a campaign with Affinity Water.
Fogle is a passionate advocate for the natural world and conservation and is keen to highlight that saving water could help protect our streams and rivers and the flora and fauna that live in them – and potentially save us money too.
As part of the Save Our Streams campaign, Fogle led an alfresco learning experience in which he helped to teach children how to break bad water wasting habits in the River Chess, and why it’s important to conserve water.
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He visited students from Thomas Harding Junior School, Chesham, to ask experts at Affinity Water and the Chilterns Chalk Stream Project about water usage and the knock-on effect it has on the UK’s precious chalk streams.
He said: “During my global adventures, I’ve seen how fragile habitats can come under threat. Our chalk streams have been described as England’s Great Barrier Reef. They are 10 times more endangered than both the Bengal Tiger and the Black Rhino, and as worthy of protection as anything I’ve seen on my travels.
"Sometimes we take the water coming out of our taps for granted, so learning how wasting water can affect some of our most precious ecosystems is important. I’m hoping Affinity Water’s Save Our Streams initiative will encourage people to change some of those habits that they’ve fallen into.”
In addition to the big steps Affinity Water are taking to reduce water wastage; the company is encouraging households to do the same by taking simple steps to reduce the amount used.
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The water company believes if everyone reduced their usage by 7.5 per cent this year, a total of 17 mega-litres per day could be saved from going to waste, which is equivalent to 140 million cups of tea.
SOS Campaign Director at Affinity Water Lynn McCarthy said: “Save our Streams is not about stopping people using water; providing high quality drinking water to our customers is why we are here, but as the research there is an opportunity for us all to give more thought to how we use it.
“Making simple changes every day will have a huge collective impact on our streams, and people can also save a bit of money on their energy bills. We have had one of the driest summers on record, and despite us all believing it rains a lot in this country, rainfall has been below average for more than six months.[4] Now is the right time for a campaign like Save our Streams to encourage children and their families to become the next generation of Stream Savers and take simple steps to make water conservation second nature.”
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