‘Greening the Green’ – Community Water in the Age of Localism

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This chapter disseminates further research regarding approaches to engaging communities in sustainable development (in this case water and energy sustainability and planning) through self-determined ‘local’ resilience agendas as opposed to the abstract, over-whelming and disempowering notions of global sustainability - ‘saving the world’. It illustrates the need to identify and capitalise on local engagement points that activate and motivate action via issues that communites ‘own’, care about and are empowered to facilitate. The research methodology utilised a community-wide survey and a stakeholder workshop between a case study community and its representatives, water suppliers, water and hydrology experts and the environment agency and computer and visualisation tools. The approach also made distinct efforts to merge consideration of water with energy as a means to relate the carbon footprint as well as cost savings but to further enforce it as part of the resilience agenda. The project formed part of a ‘community energy and water plan’ which the case study community have begun implementing and visualising having won a Department of Climate Change award. The research was disseminated through invitation as a panel speaker at the National Waterwise Conference (2012), alongside lead representatives of DEFRA, The Environment Agency and Global Action Plan and attended by The Minister for Water and Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government. The research was funded by DEFRA and formed part of their report on water engagement provided by The Water Efficiency in Buildings Network and the Energy and Water Plan of the case study community has been identified and used by the Centre for Sustainable Energy as an exemplar project.