What You Can Do At School
to Save Water

Did you know that by fixing one leaky faucet at your school you can save over 3,000 gallons of water in one year? Now that's a lot of water!

 


Water has many uses in schools which include drinking, flushing the toilet, washing paintbrushes, washing hands and watering the school garden.

Water is an essential resource for everyone and should be used sparingly and not wasted.  There are many ways for schools and their students to learn more about water and how it is used in schools, how to protect it and conserve it.  Conserving and protecting water in schools can also save schools thousands of dollars. Here are some ways to save water in school:

  • Bring a water bottle to school to avoid using a drinking fountain that can use more water than a person drinks.
  • When using a drinking fountain, let go of the button/handle when pausing for a breath.
  • Find out if your school uses low-flow or water-reducing devices on faucets and toilets. If your school doesn't use these devices, talk to the person in charge and explain why it's important to use these devices to save water. Xeriscape symbol
  • Find out if the plants around your school need to be watered a lot. If they do, find out about alternative plants that can survive with less water (xeriscaping). Talk to your school's parent/teacher organization about helping to replace the plants.
  • Put mulch around plants to conserve water.
  • When washing hands, don’t let the water run while soaping up your hands.
  • If you see water coming from unused water faucets, shut them off.
  • Alert the custodian/building engineer of any leaky faucets, drinking fountains or toilets.
  • Create posters that teach kids how to conserve water and display them in your school.
  • Teach other kids why it's important to conserve water and how to conserve water by visiting classrooms and making a presentation such as the Save the Environment Slide Show.

|Create a S.E.E.K. | |Sponsor a Waste-Free Lunch Day | |Earn a Certificate| |Celebrations At School| |3R's At School| |Saving Trees At School|
|Saving Electricity At School|  | Saving Water At School|

Book

Elkington, John, Julia Hailes, Douglas Hill and Joel Makower. Going Green-A Kid’s Handbook to Saving the Planet. New York: The Penguin Group, 1990.

Online Resources

"Water at School." States of Jersey. 7 December 2006 <http://www.eco-active.je/water/atschool>.

"Water Conservation Ideas for Schools and Colleges." Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. 17 December 2006 <http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/subject/hotopics/drought/facts
/school.htm>.

"Water Conservation." King County Solid Waste Division. 17 December 2006 <http://www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/greenschools/water.asp>.

Image

Permission to use the picture on this page is granted  under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License or image is in the public domain from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page> (April, 2007).

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