Schools Water Efficiency Factsheet
Make your school water efficient - Saving water helps nature and your budget.
Every drop of water you save...
is a drop of water that stays in our rivers and aquifer. That’s good for the environment, and our communities!
Why benchmark?
Benchmarking can help you:
-
-
-
-
- Understand your
water use - Identify your goals
- Track your progress!
- Understand your
-
-
-
How does my school compare?
2 Data based on benchmark studies by Sydney Water
Once you've gained an understanding of how much water your school is using, use this table to see if your school is an efficient, medium or high water user.
- From your school’s last water bill, or by reading the meter yourself, determine how much water was used and over how many school days
- Convert m³ to litres by multiplying by 1000
- Obtain the current number of students on the school roll
- Divide the total usage (L) by the number of students and by the number of school days the bill covered
To get your daily usage, read your water meter, and then read it again 7 days later.
Find the difference between readings 1 and 2, and divide it by 7. This will show you your daily usage (m3 / day)
Your meter may look different. If this is the case, contact the manufacturer for more instructions.
Leaks
Even small leaks can waste a lot of water. It’s important to get leaking taps and toilets fixed quickly. Keep an eye on your water meter, and check out anything that looks unusual. It’s a good idea to monitor it over periods like weekends and holidays, when students and staff aren’t using water at school. If there’s any continued unexplained water use over this time, it could be a leak!
Key points:
- Conduct monthly monitoring and benchmarking of your school's water meters to catch high flows and leaks early
- Ensure good processes are in place for reporting and fixing leaks in the school e.g. dripping taps and leaking toilets
- Consider smart metering to allow more near real time monitoring of water use and leaks
Urinals
Fill and dump urinals are a key water waster in schools - and can waste around 300,000 litres per year! In fact, they’re so wasteful that they’ve been banned in many places overseas. Check out the Urinal Factsheet to learn how to identify fill and dump urinals, and find out how much water and money you can save by retrofitting them.
Key points:
- Identify all fill and dump urinals and retrofit them
- Optimise settings of sensor-based urinals
- Check for leaks and continual flow
- Check out the Urinal Factsheet
Toilets
Look for the water efficiency sticker to find out how water efficient your toilet is. Generally older single flush toilets are less efficient, and retrofitting a smaller cistern (up to 3 Star) or/and replacing the single flush with dual flush is possible without impacting on flush performance. Some flush mechanisms can be adjusted to reduce flush volumes. Alternatively, placing a brick or large stone inside the toilet cistern can be a low-cost option for reducing flush volumes. Replacement with 4+ Star rated toilets is also recommended.
Key points:
- Ensure toilets are dual flush
- Retrofit large toilet cisterns
- Adjust flush volumes
- Install a volume displacement device
- Choose water efficient toilets when renovating
Taps
See how many litres per minute your taps use, by measuring their flow rate with a jug and timer, then check its water efficiency star rating. For taps more than 6 L/min consider installing aerators or flow restrictors. These maintain pressure while reducing flow. For non-compatible taps consider adjusting under-sink valves to limit flow rates or upgrading to water-efficient, sensor-activated, or timed taps.
Key points:
- Install flow restrictors and aerators on compatible taps
- Throttle under-sink valves
- Upgrade to sensor activated or time-limited taps