Government figures suggest schools spend around £70 million a year on water. A large secondary school can spend as much as £20,000, yet careful water management - including an effective instruction programme - can often drastically reduce water use and the annual water bill.

In a demonstration project sponsored by Southern Water, West Sussex County Council and the Environment Agency, Chesswood Middle School in Worthing reduced its water consumption by over 70%. The measures taken were simple, and the payback on the equipment installed was under one year. As a result the water consumption in the school has gone down from almost 6000 litres/pupil/day to under 1500 litres/pupil/year.

You can find out all about the case study by downloading the Adobe pdf file here:

Chesswood School Case Study pdf 65 kb

If your school would like to follow the Chesswood School example, we can help. "Small Changes Big Savings: Schools" pack has been put together to help schools eliminate water wastage and save money.

Download the Small Changes Big Savings:Schools pdf file.  

If you would like further help with reducing water use in your school please e-mail us at waterintheschool@southernwater.co.uk.

If you would like to involve pupils in water conservation, we also have curriculum-linked resources available, click here.