Green Schools Home Water Survey

Three classes were chosen to complete a water survey on behalf of the Green Schools committee. These were Senior Infants, 3rd Class and 6th Class which added up to a total of 73 families.

 

Of these 73 families, 39 returned the surveys to the school; a total of 53%. The following results are based on these 39 surveys.

 

26% of those surveyed leave the tap running while they brush their teeth. This means that for every minute a tap is left running, six litres of water is wasted.

Top tip: Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth and this water can be saved.

 

Showers are used for an average of 2.5 times per day. If you have an electric shower, this uses 7 litres per minute. If you have a power shower, it uses 25 litres per minute.

Top tip:  If you reduce your shower by just a minute, you will save 7 litres. If everyone in the household did this, so much more can be saved.

 

The dishwasher is used for an average of once a day. Depending on the capacity of your dishwasher, this can use up to 20 litres for a cycle.

Top tip: Try not to turn on the dishwasher is it is half empty. Save water by filling the dishwasher to its capacity before using it.

 

The kettle was filled an average of 5 times a day. The capacity of a typical kettle is 1.7 litres. This means that 8.5 litres of water is used in a kettle per day.

Top tip: Only fill the kettle with the amount of water that you need. If you have water in a water bottle that needs to be refilled, pour this water into the kettle instead of down the sink.

 

The washing machine is used an average of 7 times per week. A typical cycle in a washing machine can use up to 65 litres so 455 litres is used to wash clothes every week!

Top tip: Try not to turn on the washing machine until it is full. This will reduce the amount of times the machine has to be used and will save many litres of water in the process.

 

The toilet is flushed an average of 12 times per day. A typical cistern could contain approximately 8 litres of water resulting in 96 litres of water being flushed down the toilet every day!

Top tip: Putting a water displacement device into your cistern will save water. This can be a commercial product like a Hippo Bag or a homemade device such as those used in our school. We filled bottles with stones and water and placed them into the cistern thereby reducing the amount of water that is used in every flush.

The average number of toilets in a house was three so it could mean that many more litres of water are flushed down the toilet every day too!

 

10% of those who completed the survey had water butts in their garden.

Top tip:  If you connect a water butt to the downpipe, the rainwater can be collected and used for watering plants or washing cars.

 

74% of those surveyed were interested in knowing more about conserving water while 26% did not want to learn about reducing their water usage.

In Marshalstown NS, our motto is Water water everywhere, try and save if you care.

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