Volvo Ocean Race announce Bluewater as new Sustainability Program Partner
Volvo Ocean Race have named Bluewater, a world leading water purification company, its official Sustainability Program partner and water provider during the Race’s 2017-18 competition.
Bluewater will provide safe, 'on-demand' drinking water free of contaminants such as micro-plastics, pesticides, toxic metals and bacteria to sailors, and visitors and at Race Villages in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Auckland, Itajaí, Newport, Cardiff, Gothenburg and The Hague.
Bluewater water purification solutions generate contaminant-free clean drinking water on-demand both at home and for a broad spectrum of commercial and municipal applications from restaurants and hotels to water reuse public hydration stations.
Bluewater has already played a big part in delivering clean drinking water for visitors to the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in drought stricken Cape Town, South Africa.
After years of severe drought, Cape Town was unable to meet public demand for drinking water from municipal sources,. The crisis led to Bluewater harnessing its advanced water purification technologies to reuse non-potable water to generate pristine water from four water stations able to deliver up to 32,000 liters of water per day and thus avoid the use of up to 50,000 single-use plastic bottles.
“Bluewater’s engagement in Cape Town and our ongoing relationship with the Volvo Ocean Race will allow us to showcase how our leading-edge, safe and reliable technology delivers safe drinking water, even from sources previously considered unsafe for human consumption such as grey water,” said Anders Jacobson, co-founder and chief executive of Blue AB, the sustainability-focused holding company that owns Bluewater.
Anne-Cecile Turner, Sustainability Programme Leader for the Volvo Ocean Race, said:
“We are delighted that Bluewater has joined the Volvo Ocean Race as our official water provider. Their innovative purified water solution will supply clean drinking water and significantly reduce single-use plastics at all our stopovers."
The Volvo Ocean Race is one of the world’s longest and most competitive professional sporting event. Crossing some of the remotest oceans on earth, the seven teams competing in the 2017-18 edition have seen, first hand, the impacts plastic pollution is having on the health of our Oceans.
Scientists have estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish so as a global event, visiting a range of iconic cities, the Volvo Ocean Race has a powerful and unique platform to explore the issues and solutions that can have a positive impact upon the plastic that’s polluting our Blue Planet.
In collaboration with Race Partners, Volvo, Bluewater, 11th Hour Racing, the Mirpuri Foundation, AkzoNobel, and Ocean Family Foundation, the Volvo Ocean Race has developed a Sustainability Program to educate, innovate and leave a lasting legacy to address the global crisis of plastics and Ocean Health.