Water Wise competition open to creative Fanshawe students

The Canadian Institute of Plumbing and Heating (CIPH) is hoping to inspire creativity and ingenuity in students with a competition designed to raise student awareness about water conservation.

The “Canada’s Most Water Wise School” competition is asking students to come up with ways to reduce the water-use footprint on their campuses.

Two entrance dates run from Oct. 15 to Dec. 15 and again from Jan. 1 to Feb. 28 to correspond with semesters. Winners will be announced on World Plumbing Day on March 11.

Matt Wiesenfeld, program manager at CIPH, said the idea for the competition came from the fact that young people are just not interested or knowledgeable about their industry.

“Most of our member’s products are below the ground or in the walls of your home or office, that you would never see,” Wiesenfeld said. He said that since most of the products “never see the light of day” it makes it difficult for the organization to get the word out about what they do.

CIPH is offering some great incentives for students to enter the competition. The top prize for the competition is $3,000 and $1500 for second place. Visa gift cards worth $50 are awarded to the first 100 students to deliver their final presentation.

This is the third year CIPH is hosting the competition. Last year’s winner was a team from the University of Waterloo who developed a plan to reduce water consumption in residences by replacing toilets, faucets and shower fixtures with water-saving models.

The competition is not exclusive to students in engineering; it is open to all disciplines including economics, communications, business and marketing.

Wiesenfeld said Canadians often do not think about the importance of conserving water, especially due to the abundance of fresh water resources in the country.

“Water conservation has always been an important part of what we do, helping businesses manufacture products that reduce their water-use footprint,” Wiesenfeld said. “The message is consistent, there’s all sorts of things we can do and should do to use less water. The only way that these resources can survive long term is if we all respect them.”

Wiesenfeld said the competition is a great opportunity for students to get real world experience as well as feedback. Submissions are evaluated by a small judging panel consisting of industry professionals. This feature was the number one take away for students from the competition.

“You can see and test your instincts against what some people who are looking at the same kinds of problems everyday are challenged with,” Wiesenfeld said.

CIPH is also looking to add a mentorship aspect to the competition, where students are in contact with a CIPH Young Executive who can assist them in the development of their presentation.

Wiesenfeld said that students should not be afraid to enter the competition, especially if they are not studying a trade because Water Wise isn’t just for engineering students.

“We’re waiting for people from multidisciplinary fields,” said Wiesenfeld. “It doesn’t always have to be about a product. Someone could come up with a marketing approach. We’d love to see some unique approaches.”

Wiesenfeld urges Fanshawe students to give the competition a shot and make their college experience as productive as possible.

Students who are interested in entering with Water Wise competition can enter at ciph.com/en/waterwiseschool.