Water mon amour

by Eleonora Anello

Concrete actions and appropriate technologies. These are the key words of T.V.B., “Ti voglio bere” (I want drink), national campaign that promotes the consumption and the responsible use of the tap.
The project - sponsored by Centro Studi Ambientali di Torino (Environmental Studies Centre of Turin) – has broken in the hearts of the municipal administrators of Pettinengo, a small town in the province of Biella (Piedmont), which will go down in history for being the first Italian municipality to join the campaign.
The rediscovery of the water resource was made in collaboration with a local Association PaceFuturo, that also works for the spreading of a culture of water like a collective good. To this small blue revolution also participates the ATO 2 Biellese Vercellese Casalese.

With the campaign "TVB" in Pettinengo 450 families are informed and involved in the initiative. The methodology used is traditional: after a first moment of training, where to dispel rooted stereotypes, to the target it not only provides useful tips to convert themselves of the tap water, but are supplied material tools, such as purifiers and special fountains for a conscious supply.

Privileged targets of "Ti voglio bere" are also schools and firms.
The project has made its first steps from the Lyceum "Gioberti" in Turin, in 2006. The school had expressed the desire to consume tap water, and the Assessor to water resources of the Province of Turin, Dorino Piras, gave the first experimental task to Centro Studi Ambientali.
The achieved results and the enthusiasm shown by the new "Water Manager", have been so satisfactory as to extend the experience to other schools. Today is indeed a real active network of schools: 41 high schools throughout the Piedmont region (32,000 users including students, teachers and non-teaching), to which are added about thirty primary and secondary schools.
The educational project aims mainly on the peer education, the equal education that results from the interaction between students, but does not miss the return they can have in the families also. «The campaign in the schools focuses on the strong involvement of students and teachers» – said Alessandra Mazzotta of the Centre Press Office- «Everyone participates according to their experiences. Thus, for example, the Institute for professional advertising services Steiner has made the graphics of the campaign while the Primo Lyceum of Art some commercials video». It also activates the young editors TVB Tam Tam where the students competed in journalism.

From school to the tourism sector, the step was short. Several shopkeepers have joined the campaign met with the satisfaction of its customers. All citizens can participate in a personal way by outing on the site. For them T.V.B. has developed a kit for taste better their domestic water, produced and marketed by a specialist firm.

By Domenico Filippone, president of the Centre and campaign manager, the key point of the project «is adopting a water action plan like those that local governments take to the waste and the energy. With this tool, we offer educational, technical and communication interventions for the exploitation of water resources. The data so far we have collected through careful monitoring and thorough analysis, crucial step of our methodology, demonstrate the goodness of this approach. This is an investment that gives rise to an integrated system that puts the emphasis on water as a collective resource that we all have to love».