Simply Washrooms partners with The Rivers Trust
Simply Washrooms has announced a new strategic charity partnership with environmental NGO, The Rivers Trust.
The year-long partnership will see the two organisations work together to tackle two of The Rivers Trust’s key issues – water pollution and water scarcity – through a combination of educational public messaging, corporate volunteering and fundraising
The partnership will utilise the reach and access points of a washroom services business (Simply) to convey the River Trust’s key messages around:
- Encouraging best practice approaches for water conservation and;
- Encouraging responsible waste disposal by ensuring people use hygiene bins rather than flushing personal hygiene waste down the toilet
What’s the problem?
Many people don’t even realise the UK experiences drought; after all, we’re known for our rain! However, even with the amount of rainfall we’ve had in the first few months of 2024, it only takes a few sunny days to dry our vulnerable rivers to the point that they virtually disappear.
Although drought occurs naturally when temperatures rise and rainfall drops, climate change and population growth have placed a massive strain on freshwater resources.
We are abstracting (removing) water from our rivers at an unsustainable rate, leading to low water levels in many rivers across the UK.
In simple terms – we’re all using way too much water every day!
Many rivers contain pollutants as a result of agriculture, industry and household waste. When water levels drop, the concentration of these pollutants increases – often to a higher level than wildlife and plants can tolerate. Water scarcity also decreases the concentration of oxygen in the water, which affects flora and fauna.
What can we do about it?
The Rivers Trust advocates a longer-term, joined-up approach to managing our water resources. This means:
- Building resilience within rivers and wider landscapes and;
- Reducing our water consumption
It’s the second point that we can ALL help with. If we all make changes to water use in our daily life, we could significantly reduce the amount of water withdrawn from our rivers which will help to buffer them against the damage caused by periods of drought.
What’s the problem?
Our rivers (where we get our drinking water from) are under attack from multiple angles. Sewage, urban, agricultural and industrial pollution all contribute to the problem. This leads to:
- Habitat decline and biodiversity loss
- Human health
- Rising costs of cleaning up polluted water (which has an impact on all our water bills)
What can we do about it?
One of the simplest things we can all do to reduce pollution in our rivers – and the one this partnership will focus on – is to only put the ‘three Ps’ down the toilet: paper, poo and pee.
Putting anything else down the toilet (tampons, wet wipes and other personal hygiene waste) runs the risk of blocking sewers, which in turn increases the likelihood of sewage being released into rivers. This includes wet wipes which brand themselves as flushable!
For more information about how you can help, visit the Rivers Trust website here