Schools water efficiency and awareness project

C Wilson

doi:10.4314/wsa.v30i5.5174

Abstract

The City of Cape Town's Water Demand Management (WDM) department has been involved in school projects for several years, although these have generally been restricted to educational activities during Water Week and school competitions, due mainly to limited resources. Cape Town is a water scarce area, and although the per capita water consumption appears to have dropped slightly over the past three years, this could be attributed to the aggressive media campaign in 2000/2001 and tariff increases. Schools are one area where there can be substantial water use (and/or abuse) and the City's Water Demand Management team therefore initiated its Schools Water Efficiency Project in February 2003, which supports several of the City's Water Demand Management Strategy objectives and is aligned with the IDP. All schools within the Cape Metropolitan Area (approximately 850) are to be incorporated in 3-5 years, including follow-up visits and assessments. Water SA Vol. 30 (5) 2005: pp.93-94

Highlights

IntroductionThe City of Cape Town’s Water Demand Management (WDM) department has been involved in school projects for several years, these have generally been restricted to educational activities during Water Week and school competitions, due mainly to limited resources
The City of Cape Town’s Water Demand Management (WDM) department has been involved in school projects for several years, these have generally been restricted to educational activities during Water Week and school competitions, due mainly to limited resources.Cape Town is a water scarce area, and the per capita water consumption appears to have dropped slightly over the past three years, this could be attributed to the aggressive media campaign in 2000/2001 and tariff increases
The purpose of the project is to empower schools within the City’s boundaries to bring their water efficiency up to an acceptable level within a five year period, thereby substantially reducing the amount of potable water wastage in this area. (It can be noted that removal of automatic flushing urinals (AFUs) alone in schools can save up to R8 000 on the annual water account, as was achieved at Marine Primary)

Summary

Introduction

The City of Cape Town’s Water Demand Management (WDM) department has been involved in school projects for several years, these have generally been restricted to educational activities during Water Week and school competitions, due mainly to limited resources. Schools are one area where there can be substantial water use (and/or abuse) and the City’s Water Demand Management team initiated its Schools Water Efficiency Project in February 2003, which supports several of the City’s Water Demand Management Strategy objectives and is aligned with the IDP. The purpose of the project is to empower schools within the City’s boundaries to bring their water efficiency up to an acceptable level within a five year period, thereby substantially reducing the amount of potable water wastage in this area.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion