Pep Guardiola, Xylem partner to promote engagement in water scarcity

Global water technology company Xylem and famous soccer coach Pep Guardiola today announced that they are joining forces to promote public engagement on the world’s drinking water challenges.

The partners will campaign for awareness and education, and will support community initiatives through The Guardiola Sala Foundation. Together, they aim to reach hundreds of millions of people and to motivate young people to address water challenges in their own communities.

Guardiola established his philanthropic foundation earlier in 2021. This new alliance builds on Xylem’s existing partnership with both the Manchester City Football Club and City Football Group.

Xylem has worked with soccer groups nationwide for several years, with Xylem becoming the official water technology partner of Manchester City in 2018.

“Our work with Manchester City has already reached over a billion people to raise awareness about pressing water challenges around the world,” said Joseph Vesey, Xylem’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Now, working with a legendary leader like Pep, we aim to unite the public, students, community leaders and NGOs, to take action to solve the water challenges in their communities.”

“Where I’m from, in Catalonia, drought is always a risk,” said Guardiola. “The issue of community access to affordable water is very important to me personally. Our Foundation’s first activities, this summer, were working with children in Barcelona to help educate them on the importance of preserving water, and I’m so pleased to be partnering with a water leader like Xylem to help address water issues in communities everywhere.”

The first Xylem campaign to feature Pep Guardiola will be the upcoming “Water Heroes FC,” in which Guardiola encourages people everywhere to take action and solve water challenges. In July, Guardiola joined Xylem and EarthEcho International in the first in a series of water education events, at Casal dels Infants in Barcelona, to encourage students to realize a more sustainable future for Spain’s water resources. Spain’s water resources are predicted to decline by up to 40 percent by the end of the century.

SOURCE: Xylem, via Business Wire