The Water Forum’s research project ‘A Framework for Improving Domestic Water Conservation in Ireland’ was announced as a recipient of a NovaUCD’s 2022 Innovation Award this week.
This annual innovation award aims to highlight successes made in areas of knowledge transfer, consultancy, entrepreneurship and the promotion of an innovation culture, by members of the UCD research, innovation and start-up community. A total of 8 Awards, including the main 2022 NovaUCD Innovation Award, were presented by Professor Barbara Dooley, Acting UCD Registrar and Deputy President during an event held in the UCD University Club.
The members and staff of the Forum would like to extend huge congratulations to Dr Sarah Cotterill, UCD School of Civil Engineering and UCD Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research, on the award for her work entitled ‘A Framework for Improving Domestic Water Conservation in Ireland’, commissioned by the Water Forum and managed by the Forum’s Research Lead, Dr Triona McGrath.
A key finding of the study was that almost a fifth of the energy used in Irish homes is used for heating water, and therefore a relatively small reduction in household water use (of say 20%) in all homes in Ireland, could lead to a significant reduction (hundreds of thousands of tonnes) of greenhouse gas emissions a year. The research made a number of policy recommendations to achieve domestic water conservation in Ireland.
Dr Sarah Cotterill said, “I am delighted to receive this Award in recognition of the work carried out for An Fóram Uisce, with support from a collaborator at the University of Exeter, Dr Peter Melville-Shreeve, and with the support of ConsultUCD.”
“Ireland is perceived to be a ‘wet’ country but the availability of water resources varies across the country. I hope the findings from this work can progress to the next level to bring about the behavioural, technological and regulatory change necessary to manage our most vital resource, water, more sustainably.
Pictured: Dr Sarah Cotterill with Dr Triona McGrath, the Water Forum Research Lead at the Awards Ceremony in UCD.
‘A Framework for Improving Domestic Water Conservation in Ireland’, Report
