South West Water has been working with local schools to look at how they can increase water efficiency.
Focusing on schools in Cornwall, where water resources are lower than in other areas, the water company looks at consumption in comparison to the number of pupils to establish which schools to reach out to for a free water-saving audit.
Jointly funded by South West Water and the Department for Education, the project uses Plan View to provide water audits to schools, showing where water usage can be reduced and the potential to save money on bills.
Recent research suggests up to 3,100 litres of water can be saved every day in every school.
Robert Blake, director and owner of Plan View, said:
We create an asset list of every outlet, every toilet, every flow rate, and every flush rate. We then think about whether the water usage from that object is efficient or excessive, and what steps we can take to reduce it if needed.
Small changes can make a big difference. We can adjust the flow rate of taps, they remain just as effective but use a lot less water. Or we reduce the water used each time a toilet flushes by a litre or two – this can quickly add up to hundreds of litres if you think of all the toilets and taps in a school!
Some schools are fitted with a logging device which attaches to the meter and gives a day-by-day account of the water usage within the buildings.
Rob’s team analyses that data, looking at where there’s a high usage of water and accounts for why that water is being used.
Rob said:
It will also tell us if there’s water usage over a weekend or an evening when the taps should all be turned off. We can instantly see if there’s a constant drip or leak.”Fixing a dripping tap can save up to three litres per day and a single leaky loo can waste up to 400 litres a day.
One of the first schools we went to had a half-a-litre per minute drip. You could see it on the logger. We soon found a number of toilets that were leaking back into themselves and constantly using water, as well as having a large leak in their plant room.
We are able to simply go in, adjust the floats and the levels, and stop the toilets leaking straight away.
Laura Flowerdew, South West Water’s Chief Customer and Digital Officer, said:
We are really proud of our partnership with the Department of Education and the support we are providing schools.
The measures taken to support our Stop the Drop campaign not only save schools water and money but play a huge part in protecting our region’s precious water supplies.
We continue to work with businesses across the region to explore new ways to save water and money.
