The Boom Festival, which took place in Idanha-a-Nova in July, was distinguished for the ninth consecutive edition with an international Greener Future award, which distinguishes festivals, events and venues in terms of sustainability, recognizing the most innovative practices.
“Those who attend Boom have made an extraordinary contribution to water management, helping to improve this objective with each edition. Water management and sanitation are absolutely central all year round, especially during the days of the festival,” said Artur Mendes, from the Boom Festival organization, in a statement sent to the Lusa news agency today.
The 2023 edition of Boom Festival received the Water and Sanitation Award from A Greener Future for its concern for water management and use during the week of the event.
The 16th edition of the AGF International Awards took place on Tuesday in London and awarded prizes in nine categories to the most innovative and noteworthy festivals, events, venues and organizations in the last 12 months around the world.
The jury, which assesses environmental practices at festivals around the world, recognized that Boom Festival has reduced the use and waste of water, minimizing its consumption and eliminating unnecessary chemicals, promoting the separation of liquid waste streams to allow natural biological processes to act.
At the International AGF Awards, the Boom Festival was once again certified as an “Outstanding Greener Festival”, the highest and most important award given to festivals in the area of sustainability.
The jury recognized the merit of the festival and stressed that “the event has further improved the great measures already in place and deserves recognition for its passionate efforts to manage water responsibly in an area of water scarcity”.
Last year, during the eight days of the festival, 39,452 people from 169 countries visited Herdade da Granja.
During that week, between July 20 and 27, a total of 5,403 cubic meters of water were consumed, 26% less than in the previous edition.
On average, each boomer used 17.3 liters per day, while the average daily consumption per person in the country is 190 liters.
Part of the water used during the event was sent to the new wastewater treatment plant, built at Boomland, to be reused and 726,000 liters were sent to the Wastewater Treatment Plant (ETAR) of the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova, in the Castelo Branco district.
The implementation of dry composting toilets since 2006 is also part of the festival’s environmental awareness.
Over the 18 years of the festival in Idanha-a-Nova, the number of WCs has increased: at the beginning there were 20, in the last edition there were 457 distributed by Boomland.
Artur Mendes also pointed out that “water management and sanitation are absolutely central all year round, especially during the days of the festival and the same will happen in just over three months’ time at Being Gathering, between June 17 and 23”.
The Boom Festival will return to Idanha-a-Nova in 2025, but the organization is already preparing another event, Being Gathering, which takes place during the summer solstice, with a week-long program that includes workshops, yoga, martial arts, rituals, therapies, massages, art installations, eclectic music, among others.
