Ways to Save Water at School

If you're still a student, you are most probably spending more than eight hours a day in school. That's at least 33% of your whole day yet it is roughly 50% of your daily water consumption. From bathrooms to washing paintbrushes, we waste gallons of water every day at school. You can get directly involved to reduce your own daily wastage and you can get involved with the school board to install more sustainable water conservation systems in your school!

1) No Running Taps for Art

If you're an art student or any person who has to use a paintbrush, this is for you! Do you know how much water is wasted when you use a running tap to wash your brush? It's an excessive waste of water and you can simply wash your brushes by collecting some water in a cup then rinsing your paintbrush in the cup. You don't need a large stream of water from the tap for a small paintbrush and neither do you need your palette to be washed under the stream of water. Simply collect some water in the palette and scrub then rinse!

2) Turn the Tap Off

As usual, you don't always need the tap on if you're not actively using the water dispensed; whilst one is applying soap on their hands or body, the tap/shower is not in use: therefore shouldn't be on. Little things like these really cut down on water wastage; not only would the water wash off the soap before it is applied properly but the water is not used efficiently.

3) Report School Leaks

Leakages in your house are one of the biggest water wasters worldwide. Imagine how much water is wasted at school if there is even a minuscule leak in the piping? There is water flowing everywhere, to the toilets, taps, washing stations, garden hoses and even water coolers – the amount of water wasted from a leak in extravagant! Even just one drip every second can lead up to a litre wasted every few minutes! Imagine how much water the school board are wasting if they don't fix a leak for a few months. Not only would the school, as a whole, be saving money on the school's water bill by fixing the leaks, but you'll actively be saving the planet too!

4) Install Rainwater Tanks

"It's in Our Hands"

We all have a role to play in this drive for sustainability in our world as "it is in our hands"! Get in touch with the Student Council, the principal and the head of facilities at your campus to start talks regarding the use of rainwater tanks. These rainwater tanks can connect to plumbing and gardens as they collect rainwater and immediately distributes them to functions to increase efficiency and the amounts of recycled/up-cycled water in circulation.

5) Call for the Instalment of Dual Flush Toilets

Meet your principal and talk to them about the necessity of installing DF Toilets at school! Flushing urine doesn't require the same amount of water to flush compared to flushing solid waste. The large flush uses around 1.6 gallons to flush and it is simply unnecessary to flush urine with that much water (DFTs use >1 gallon of water to flush liquid waste). Flush with less to waste less water especially when you don't need to use that much water and pressure.

6) Reuse for Aesthetics

Why not recycle water for less functional purposes? Water features make everything look better! Recycle the rainwater collected into water features; create water fountains, waterfalls and ponds in your campus to not only increase amounts of rainwater being used but to also make the campus look nicer, in general!

7) Spread the Word

A massive and integral component for pushing for sustainability is awareness. We need everyone to be aware of the prevalent and imminent issue of water scarcity so he or she can take their own independent action to conserve water! Talk to your friends, send email blasts and even start blogs/social media campaigns (such as this) to loudspeaker the necessity for water sustainability!

Written by Yash Mahajan