UWC's Drive for Water Conservation

Our school, UWCSEA Dover, is a parable of sustainability for the Singaporean community. We can all learn a lot from the way our school functions. Here are 3 ways UWC works towards conserving as many gallons as possible:

1. Water taps

If you have ever washed your hands at United World College you have noticed that the taps only run for a few seconds. Despite the fact that this is occasionally bothersome, it saves gallons of water, preventing people from leaving the tap on for longer than necessary. The act of having to turn the tap back on leads people to ask themselves if they need the water in the first place, rather than mindlessly being able to keep the tap running as long as they want. If implemented in more public places gallons of water would be saved.

2. Special Flushing Systems

Have you ever been in a bathroom where the toilet flushes as soon as you get up? This is one of the biggest wastes of water in everyday use globally. The sensors could calculate to let it flush at the wrong moment, causing it to flush a lot more than It needs to. The sensors also mean that sometimes the toilet is flushing unnecessarily when no one is even on it, and since toilets are the most water-intensive household items this amuses in gallons of lost water every week. Instead, our school's system means that you must tell the flush how much water to release every time you want to flush.

3. Water Pipes

The pipes at school, if you look at the picture above, are right-angled. This is not to facilitate movement but in order to save water; the right angles allow for less friction and therefore less water lost around the edges. Although a minor move, it actually ends up saving a lot of water throughout the year, estimated hundreds of litres.

4. Creation of the 'UWC Swamp'

UWCSEA from the UWC Swamp perspective

UWC Dover has created what is known as a water retention pond, the main function of this pond is to delay the rainwater coming down into our main drain (prevents overflow of water). The best way to imagine this swamp is as a bathtub which collects run-off water. There is a small plug on the other side of the collection area so this delays and slows down the draining of the water. This allows us not to flood the roads and our campus and allows us to maximise the usage of rainwater.

The bio-diversity found in the UWC Swamp

Another feature of this swamp is that it allows for more biodiversity in our school's microclimate. The swamp celebrates and increases local bio-diversity as the flowers within attract indigenous birds, animals and insects!

By our school carrying out these methods of water conservation, thousands of litres are getting saved. This is making UWC a leading school (force) in sustainability and water conservation.

Written by Yash Mahajan