Supporting Environmental Awareness at Glenelg School in Abu Dhabi

An important element in the Borouge and Borealis “Water for the World” initiative is the dissemination of knowledge about the critical water and sanitation situation. In this article we show how Borouge has been working with staff at the Glenelg School in Abu Dhabi to teach the children in this arid region about the importance of conserving water.

Over the past two years three different events have been organised to expose the children to some of the important water issues, starting with a visit to the Borouge exhibition featuring some of the “Water for the World” projects with partner companies and the “Trouble Waters” photographic exhibition at the Sheikh Khalifa Energy Complex in Abu Dhabi. The Enviromates Club at the school were involved in the other two events, where the children were told by Borouge’s Andy Wedgner about the value of the “Water Footprint” in describing the amount of water required to produce a specific product and how Borouge were working hard to reduce the “Water Footprint” of our own manufacturing plant at Ruwais.

An important element in the Borouge and Borealis “Water for the World” initiative is the dissemination of knowledge about the critical water and sanitation situation. In this article we show how Borouge has been working with staff at the Glenelg School in Abu Dhabi to teach the children in this arid region about the importance of conserving water.

The Glenelg School of Abu Dhabi was founded in 2008 by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). It is one of the educational entities that is part of ADNOC’s educational family of learning institutions, including the Petroleum Institute, the ADNOC Technical Institute, and ADNOC Achievers Oasis. It is important that the children at the school, who are part of the future generation of UAE leaders, are made fully aware of the importance of water in this arid region.

World Water Day 2011 in Abu Dhabi

In March 2011 Borouge arranged a seminar and exhibition to raise awareness of the critical water situation at the Sheikh Khalifa Energy Complex in Abu Dhabi for its own staff and for guests from other companies within the ADNOC Group. The exhibition featured some of the “Water for the World” projects with partner companies and the “Troubled Waters” photographic exhibition. During the first day presentations were made to a number of VIP’s including H.E. Dr. Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad, the UAE Minister of Environment and Water. On the following two days the exhibition area was opened to Borouge staff and to the children from the Glenelg School who, as part of the future generation of UAE leaders, also learnt about the value and importance of water conservation for the future of us all.

Water Monitoring Day 2011 the Middle East

Borouge collaborated with CH2MHill and the Abu Dhabi Distribution Company (ADDC) to organize a Water Monitoring Day for the children of Glenelg School’s Enviromates Club. Andy Wedgner of Borouge described the importance of water and the desperate situation that exists in many parts of the world where people do not have access to clean drinking water. He also described how the “Water Footprint” can give a measure of the water required to produce different products. Salama Al Dhahri then described the water sampling and monitoring tests that ADDC carry out on the local water supply to ensure that high quality standards are maintained. Then after a short presentation by Delijeh Khosrow of CH2MHill the children were helped to carry out tests on water samples that they had gathered earlier in the day.

Environmental Awareness Week 2012

Andy Wedgner joined other guest speakers at the Glenelg School in Abu Dhabi to address the students from the Enviromates Club about some important global environmental issues. The event was part of an Environmental Awareness Week at the school when students were involved in many activities such as planting flowers, colouring the globe poster and writing messages about how they can help save the earth, origami and decorating their own T-shirts with ideas of how to save the earth and protect the environment. Andy addressed the global water challenge and described how our team at the Borouge plant in Ruwais was contributing to the drive to save water by reducing their own “Water Footprint”.

The importance of supporting education

Borouge and Borealis are committed to raising the awareness of young people about important environmental issues and under their “Water for the World” initiative have organised many events for schools and universities around the world.

• For more information on Borouge PE100, visit: www.borouge.com