THE WATER THEME:PRACTICAL TIPSEllen Murphy

Green Schools Development Officer, An Taisce

WHY LOOK AT WATER USE?

• We need water to sustain life• The Earths Water is finite – it is a closed system• Water shortages and contaminated supply is not

just confined to Third World Countries• Today nearly 20% of the world population (1 Billion

people) lacks access to safe drinking water • It is projected that by 2025 almost 50% of the world

population will struggle to meet their basic need. UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, Holland

• Water COSTS MONEY!

HOW MUCH HAVE WE LEFT TO DRINK? 97% of the world's water is salt water

Which means there is just 3% Fresh Water!

And, if 2.25% of this is ice in the ice caps at the North and South Poles, this leaves just 0.75% of fresh water

WATER CHARGES

The Government, on the 4th January 2008, announced details of the transitional arrangements which will apply to schools water services as part of the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive.

For the transition period the Government agreed that non-fee paying recognised schools will pay a flat rate per pupil.

The fee is as follows: 2007 – €3.00 per year, per pupil enrolled 2008 – €3.50 per year, per pupil enrolled 2009 – €4.00 per year, per pupil enrolled

WATER CHARGES

From January 2010 all Councils will be charging schools per metre cubed (m3 - there are 1000 litres in 1 metre cubed).

The average Irish person uses 150 – 160 litres per day

The average primary school uses 10 litres per student per day, but can vary in range from 5 litres to 18 litres per student per day!

WATER CONSERVATION - WHERE TO BEGIN...

• Where does your water come from?• Where does waste water go?• How and where is waste water treated?• Are there water bodies (rivers / streams / ponds /

lakes / the sea) in your area?• What plant and animal life do they support?• What are the main water users in the school?

– Toilets & Urinals– Showers– Kettles

WATER SAVING

C:\Users\emurphy\Videos\RealPlayer Downlo

The Elephant Shower

FIND YOUR WATER FOOTPRINT - MEASURE

In order to work out how much water you use every day; first you need to work out how much comes out of the tap.

Put a large bowl in the sink and turn on the tap for five seconds. Then switch off the tap and measure the amount of water using a measuring jug.

Multiply by twelve to give you the amount of water flowing in one minute.

Time how long you run the tap each time you use water and work out how much water you use in a day.

For every time you flush the toilet add on an extra 9 litres*.

*TOILETS School toilets vary depending on the age of the

school and the school population Standard modern cisterns have 7-8 litres of

water in them. Older cisterns have up to 10 litres of water, which is excessive.To measure the volume of your cistern, measure the

length x width x height & subtract the volume of air at the top of the cistern to get the water volume within.

Height is the height of water in the cistern, dip the ruler in and measure the depth of water, you get your answer in cm3 divide by 1000 for litres

If it is a large capacity cistern then Water Hippos may be used.

TOILETS CONTINUED... Urinals can flush 8-10 litres of water at 10 minute

intervals through the system. This includes evenings, weekends & school holidays. Install a sensor that causes them to flush

automatically Or use the shut-off valve – nominate the caretaker or

cleaner to turn these off in the evening and on again at weekends.

Check for toilets running constantly – this is relatively simple to fix but costly in use.

A simple test to see if the toilet is running is to put food colouring into the cistern, do not flush but leave for 15 minutes. Then check within the toilet bowl to see if the colouring has come through.

WATER HIPPOS What is a Water Hippo?!

TAPS

If taps are dripping it’s often just a washer that needs to be replaced, which costs less than 50 cents!

Push taps can also have their flow adjusted to ensure they are not using too much water.

A tap on full flow can use 16 litres per minute per tap. This can be adjusted and reduced to 4 litres per minute without any major effect for the user!

A person with knowledge of plumbing systems should make these adjustments.

Get the students in the class to work out where they use water during the day:• showers• brushing teeth• flushing the toilet• washing your hands• drinking water• doing the washing up

Add it up on your Water Use Calculator!

WATER RESOURCES www.taptips.ie www.somethingfishy.ie Central

Fisheries Board – website offers an Educational Pack

www.planetaqua.ie Planet Aqua project – teachers manual and detailed resources on all things water based. Planet Aqua is coordinated by AquaTT, a not for profit education and training network in aquatic sciences.

www.iws.ie Irish Water Safety

SCHOOLS

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IRELAND.ORG