A luxurious bubble bath for a moment of peace. A sports bottle strapped to a bike on a hot summer's day. The hot cups of coffee between good friends on a lunch break.
Water is used for drinking, for producing food. Plants need it to grow, it's used to make clothes, generate electricity, build roads and houses, and so much more, however, it's not in infinite supply.
Climate change and population growth are affecting water availability, and current projections show that England is in real danger of experiencing droughts within 20 years unless action is taken.
Now, a North East water company, is calling upon customers, innovators, scientists and industry experts from around the world, to help play their part in solving this huge global water challenge.
Together with Gateshead software company, Wordnerds, Northumbrian Water will be exploring what the value of water really means to people at its Innovation Festival next month.
Online festival-goers are being invited to work their way through two ‘sprints' - workshop-style challenges aimed at inspiring innovative thinking, over an action-packed four days from 14 - 17 September.
The first sprint will be focused on how people can learn to appreciate something that has always just been there, while the second sprint will look at how this is best communicated and how organisations can work to really change behaviour.
Louise Hunter, Northumbrian Water's Director of Corporate Affairs, said: "With the hot weather we've had recently, it's hit us all that little bit closer to home about how much we take our water for granted.
"Water's worth saving, but water scarcity is a huge issue on a global scale that affects all of us, and we want to understand how we can get people to place a tangible value on water and drive behavioural change in using it wisely.
"The Innovation Festival is a really exciting opportunity to bring together some of the most innovative minds and tackle this issue head on through the collective lenses of our customers, our communities and our stakeholders - we can't wait to get started."
Steve Erdal, Co-Founder and Director of Linguistics at Wordnerds, said: "Wordnerds has grown up around the Innovation Festival. Over the years, we have gone from attendees to hackathon winners to facilitators, to sponsors this year. Northumbrian Water was one of the first organisations to take an interest in Wordnerds, and their work with SMEs is exemplary, so we're thrilled to be joining them once again for the Innovation Festival.
"The topic of our sprint this year - understanding people's attitudes to water and helping to influence behaviour - is a pivotal challenge to our planet's future. We'll be bringing together people from a huge range of backgrounds, dealing with some enormous questions, and if previous Festivals are anything to go by, having a huge amount of fun."
To find out more about the Innovation Festival, which is helping the nation build back better following Coronavirus, and to sign up, see www.innovationfestival.org.