Help and advice for education services

Below is some helpful advice for those managing the water and wastewater systems in schools, colleges and higher education establishments.

Pupil and staff behaviour

While educating your pupils about the curriculum, why not add in water saving advice and guidance around what not to flush?

With our range of water saving posters that you can download here, you can influence your pupils and staff to report leaky loos, turn dripping taps off and use the small flush. You can also find posters to download here to encourage everyone to stick to the 3 Ps rule – pee, poo and paper – down the toilet.

If you work at a university building with halls, you could also put up these posters around your student accommodation.

Finding leaks

As with many educational premises, you’ll likely have an extensive network of water pipes getting water across your site, which makes you susceptible to leaks over time.

Your quieter periods during half term, summer and winter breaks, are the perfect opportunity to scrutinise your water meter readings and identify any leaks. Read our how to guide here on how to test for a leak on your site.

If you suspect you have a leak but are struggling to locate it due to your extensive pipework, then you can install isolation valves throughout your site to narrow down leaks into specific zones. This doesn’t cost as much as you might think and results in a great return on investment if it saves you time searching for a costly leak.

Wrapping up for winter

Schools are particularly vulnerable to burst pipes during the winter as they’re often empty for days, meaning a burst pipe, inside or outside the building going unnoticed and causing flooding and leaking huge amounts of water.

For closures over the winter period, it’s therefore a great idea to wrap any external pipework with lagging kits before you close. If you have a burst pipe while nobody is around, the leak could cause a lot of damage.

You also may want to drain the water network over the winter to reduce the chances of a burst. If only certain parts of the building are closed during the winter, consider installing stop taps to these areas so the supplies can be isolated.

You should also disconnect any hosepipes to stop them becoming damaged, isolate any external supplies where possible and make sure your sprinkler system is prepared for winter.

Find out more about how to prepare your building for winter here.

Test your RPZ valves

If you are a large premises such as a school, you may have Reduced Pressure Zone (RPZ) valves in your plumbing, which prevent water going back up pipes and potentially contaminating drinking water.

All RPZ valves must be tested at least once a year by a competent installer. Click here to read more.

Taking advantage of data logging to get ahead of leaks

If you have multiple sites or have difficulty accessing your water meter to read it regularly, it can be really tricky to manage your water consumption. You will often only be aware of a leak when you receive a large bill from us.

The answer could be data logging. Water monitoring equipment is connected to the water meter, and you can easily see live analysis of your usage online. You’ll be able to track your water use at a glance, enabling you to spot any potential problems such as leaks and deal with them quickly and efficiently.

Find out more about our data logging service here.

Trade Effluent

If you need to discharge anything other than domestic sewage into one of our public sewers, you need our permission. Domestic sewage is best described as toilet, bath or sink waste or uncontaminated surface water and roof drainage (rainwater).

It is illegal to discharge into our public sewers without our permission. Click here to read more.

Water saving tips

Here are some generic water saving tips to help you reduce your water consumption across your site.

Educational visits for your students

One of our aims is to help educational organisations to equip pupils to become global citizens, giving them an understanding of sustainability and its impact on the local community.

Did you know that we have a specific education team who can arrange lessons from seconded teachers all around the water cycle? Find out more here.