GEI session news: The Facts of Live: Poo, Pee & Water

With less than two weeks until Green Events & Innovations Conference kicks off, we have news of another just-launched session, this time dedicated to those facts of life, and live for that matter... pooing, peeing and drinking water.The Facts of Live: Poo, Pee & Water

4.5 billion people currently live without access to safely managed sanitation, and by 2025, 66% of the planet will live in water-stressed conditions.So what actions are festivals and events taking to ensure that their water and sewage is being managed safely whilst harnessing maximum nutrients and using minimum resources? And how practical is it to actually achieve some of the new ideas on the ground? Does the work done by events to manage their water usage coincide with the bigger picture when it comes to the topic of global sanitation?In this panel, an essential for all event and festival organisers, we will hear from Jane “I truly love toilets” Healy, who has the mammoth task of managing sanitation at Glastonbury Festival, an event that attracts around 175,000 pooing festival-goers a year. Jane will share with GEI delegates how the festival manages to cope with the facilities, storage and processing of such a colossal amount of waste.Jane will be joined by Virginia Gardiner of Loowatt, who will share her company’s experience of developing an innovative waterless flush toilet for the closed-loop processing of human waste, in order to generate biogas, electricity and fertiliser. She will look at off-grid toilet options and challenges, and the direct benefits that the work done in the events industry - to provide waterless toilets - has had in poor communities.Proving it’s not all about poo, Adrian Mills from Watermills, one of the largest temporary water suppliers in the UK – who contributed to the British Standard (BS 8551) for temporary water supplies – will chair a discussion on how, as festival/event organisers, we should be researching alternative ways of providing welfare services to the public. Recycling water onsite and the reduction of single-use plastic waste are just two of the projects that Watermills have recently been involved with.And last but not least, having site-managed events of all sizes, from global sailing events to four-day music festivals, and city-centre arena shows, GMC Events' Graham MacVoy will give invaluable on-the-ground insights into the challenges and practicalities of water and sanitation infrastructure across a variety of event types and spaces, including Boomtown, Common People, Shambala and Standon Calling.This panel will be moderated by Chris Cooke, who is an editor, journalist, and media entrepreneur, and the founder of the highly respected Complete Music Update (CMU). Chris is known for his ability to get to the very heart of a subject.Biographies (or should that be 'bographies'?)Chris CookeChris is the MD and business editor of CMU, a service provider to the music industry. Best known for its media – the CMU Daily, CMU Digest, CMU Trends and CMU Setlist podcast – CMU also provides training and its consultancy services to music companies, runs the CMU:DIY education programme for new talent, and presents the CMU Insights conference at The Great Escape each May.CMU is part of Chris’s company 3CM UnLimited, through which he also publishes cultural recommendations service ThisWeek London and its sister magazine ThreeWeeks Edinburgh; and helps to run the award-winning PR training charity the Taylor Bennett Foundation.Jane HealyJane has been working in festival/concert production for the past ten years, specialising in sustainable infrastructure and the application of sustainable technologies. Her main focus has been on sanitation management, and looking into options to improve and advance this sector within the festival community. From compost toilets to ‘pee power’, she believes that helping to develop sustainable sanitation technologies will not only benefit the event scene but can also have an impact on the way sanitation is approached in developing countries.She has also worked with WaterAid to promote the importance of good sanitation and clean water.As the sanitation manager at Glastonbury Festival since 2016, Jane has implemented site-wide compost toilets. This was a first for Glastonbury and set a precedent for the festival industry with 1,111 compost toilets deployed on one site. She also oversaw the management of over 5,000 toilets during the event, along with grey-water plumbing, and general onsite liquid emptying logistics.Prior to Glastonbury, Jane was the production manager for Sunrise Celebration, an award-winning sustainable event.Virginia GardinerVirginia is the inventor of the Loowatt Luxury Waterless Toilet Technology system. Prior to establishing Loowatt in 2010, she spent seven years working with award-winning product and design companies including Dwell Magazine, and wrote for publications including Metropolis and The New York Times.Virginia holds a joint masters degree in Innovation Design Engineering from the Royal College of Arts and Imperial College London, and a BA from Stanford University in Comparative Literature.Adrian Mills Adrian’s career has always focused on water delivery. He founded Water Direct (a company providing services to water utility companies) in 1999, and then in 2007, he established Watermills, whose remit is to provide water services to events and festivals.In 2009, Adrian was invited to help in the writing of the British Standard (BS 8551) for temporary water supply and infrastructure, which was published in 2011.Adrian was engaged in the planning and delivery of a temporary water supply for the 2012 Olympics, which adopted BS 8551 guidance.Adrian is passionate about water, and is committed to improving welfare and sanitation at festivals and events both in the UK and abroad.Graham MacVoyGraham began his events career planning and delivering pro-snowboard and extreme sports events in the Alps, and working with major brands such as Nike, Xbox and Oakley, before setting up GMC Events.GMC Events’ portfolio includes events of all sizes, from global sailing events to four-day music festivals, and city-centre arena shows, including Boomtown Fair, Common People Oxford, Standon Calling, Shambala, British Summer Time and Rat Race Adventure Sports, to name a few!Meet Jane, Virginia, Adrian, Graham and Chris at GEI10 in two weeks.See the full GEI10 agenda here.The Green Events & Innovations Conference (GEI) is A Greener Festival’s annual flagship event delivered in partnership with the International Live Music Conference (ILMC). Tuesday 6 March 2018, The Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington High St, London.