Saving water in schools Print

Schools in the UK spend £70 million annually on the provision of fresh water and the treatment of waste water. A typical primary school can spend £2,000 a year on their water bill, and a secondary school can spend twice this amount. Waterwise has therefore come up with water saving tips for school to reduce their costs and water wastage.

• Establish a ‘water savers’ monitoring team, which gets children involved on spotting leaks and dripping taps.

• Invest in flow restrictors for taps, and when the taps need to be replaced invest in water efficient taps.

• Encourage students and teachers not to turn the tap on too hard whilst washing hands.

• Plant plants which are suited to the local climate and soil conditions.

• Place cistern displacement devices in toilets to save water with every flush.


  • If you do arts and crafts, why not use a shower timer or a stop watch to time how long children can wash their brushes and equipment for? After a minute, they have to turn the tap off and put their brush away.


• Install water efficient showers when the showers need upgrading

• Invest in water efficient dishwashers and washing machines where possible. Waterwise has ranked all dishwashers and washing machines in order of water efficiency. Always encourage staff to always use a full load. Two half loads use more water than one full load.


If your school is interested in a water butt but doesn't have the funding nor a roof near your garden to collect rain, why not sign up to Freecycle (it is a free organisation that lots of people sign up to and get rid of unwanted stuff/take other people’s unwanted stuff) and request a free garden shed? You could then use a water butt converter kit (available for about £5 from DIY stores) to convert any old wheelie bin into a water butt. You could even just ask parents if they have any unwanted sheds.

A full list of what schools can do is available by clicking here

Waterwise has designed some fun pictures to colour in. Why not get your class to colour them in and put them on the wall to remind you how to save water on a daily basis. Click here for more Fun Stuff.


Please This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it if you want further information on what your school can do to save water, or if you have any great water saving tips, or great examples of what your school is doing to save water!