Go Greener

Go Greener

“Water is the driving force of all nature” – Leonardo Da Vinci                                                    

Did you know that half the world’s schools do not have access to clean water?

Or did you know that 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related illness?

World Water Day fast approaching on Monday March 22 and this year’s theme is Valuing Water. Year 8 Geography students were given the challenge of writing an article to raise awareness about water and our water usage at SCEGGS.

Around the world we use 10 billion tons of fresh water every day, yet 11% of people worldwide drink dirty, unsanitised water. In Australia, the average household uses 340 litres of water daily. We unknowingly waste 113 litres of water a day. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the buses we catch, the soft drinks we consume and the plastic we waste all needs water to exist. Water is a valuable resource which needs conserving.

With the increasing demand for water, we have had to find a way to save and manage our use of water. Sydney Water offers many ideas for saving water on their website. 

Some examples include:

  • Taking shorter showers
  • Adding a restrictor in your shower head which reduces the amount of water per minute from 19 litres to 9 litres.
  • Checking for water leaks
  • Not leaving your tap running when brushing your teeth
  • Making sure your dishwasher and washing machine are full before turning them on

 

Without water at SCEGGS, the school would shut down. Every year the school uses approximately 3 Olympic sized swimming pools of water which is equivalent more than 7.5 million litres of water. Multiple strategies have been put in place to help reduce water usage in our school.

At SCEGGS there are 80 toilets. These use 3 litres of water for every half flush and 6 litres of water for a full flush. Always half flush when possible. We have 160 bathroom sinks. Many  of the taps require some sort of force to be placed upon them so the water comes out. The taps are also timed meaning that the water flow will stop after a few seconds. There are also several friction, spring loaded bubblers which reduce wastage. The Joan Freeman stormwater retention tanks located in the car park collects 40,000 litres of rainwater from the building. This greywater is used to flush toilets and water the gardens.

A big thank you must go to Mr Stevenson, Facilities Manager, for coming to our class and giving us an entertaining presentation on water usage at SCEGGS.

So, for this World Water Day , what are you going to implement to protect this valuable resource that is essential to our existence?

 

Year 8GED Geography students
Ally Collins-Tait, Aurelia Cortese, Zoe Crisafulli, Charlotte Darcy, Ellie Earwaker, Zara Fairfax, Willow Garside, Lara Gavan, Bianca Hardge, Lily Hreszczuk, Eleanor Lawrie, Julia Machliss, Edie Maclennan, Aasha Maunsell, Maddie McCormack, Lucy McInnes, Claudia Parker, Mahlia Petrie, Zahra Ridling, Grace Rock, Maya Shearing, Helaina Travassaros, Evelyn Vigil, Celia Watson, Emily Yule, Hebe Zines