Sutton and East Surrey Water

Sutton and East Surrey Water has supported WaterAid as their charity of choice since its conception in 1981, holding a range of fundraising events to support our vital work.

Since 1985, Sutton and East Surrey Water have been running the WaterAid lottery in conjunction with Three Valleys Water and Vivendi Water, raising over £341,699 to date.

Local actress Virginia McKenna supported the launch of the customer appeal, sent out to customers with their bills, in 1986 and customers have generously donated ever since.

The company's staff have also been raising money through sponsored events for many years. In 1988 and 1989 a team entered The European Water Companies 10km run in Madrid and Pamplona respectively, raising more than £6,000. We have also had teams participate in the Munro Challenge throughout the years, climbing mountains including Sqorr Dhonuill in 1995 and Beinn Naraaim in 1998 and raising more than £5,000.

Jeremy Heath, a Development Engineer at Sutton and East Surrey Water, organises at least one big sponsored hike a year. In 2008, he led two teams of Sutton and East Water staff to the Brecon Beacons as part of WaterAid's Trail 100 walk. The aim was to put a team of hikers on top of Britain's 100 best peaks, as chosen by Trail Magazine.

The teams from Sutton and East Surrey tackled two of the toughest summits in Wales – the Fan Brycheinog, and the highest point in the country, Pen Y Fan. The teams made the summits in good time and raised £1,100 for WaterAid. Other fundraising efforts include selling off old computers, cartridges and mobile phones.

The company also runs schools education programme, which highlights the importance of a clean and reliable supply of water for a healthy diet. Children are also encouraged to think about the difficulties of getting clean water in the developing world by exploring at case studies of the people WaterAid supports. At Bough Beech reservoir education centre school children can try lifting a box holding 10 litres of water in bottles to see how heavy it is and imagine having to walk with it for miles.