Estimating the cost of BASE WASTE…
- By: Ken Nunes
For the purposes of Base Waste, we will focus exclusively on water, as we consider electricity consumption outside school hours may be better categorised under the heading of consumption, where efficiency and behavioural changes can be introduced…
From the sample of schools presently being monitored (on First look and Real-time Monitoring), it would not be an outlandish claim to consider Base Waste at 10KL per day per school…real-time monitoring data certainly supports this estimate!!!
This of course is 3 650KL per year and, at a cost of ±R40.00 per KL (the combined water and sewage cost), this effectively translates to ±R146 000 per year.
There are approximately 3,000 schools in Gauteng!
If our estimate is anywhere near correct, the Base Waste of water in schools (in Gauteng) would be a colossal value of R438.000.000 per year. (We hesitate to mention that there are some 25.000 learning institutions in South Africa...)
It’s a scary number and one which does requires further investigation and clarification.
However, considering the consumption per day per learner in the selection of schools presently on the First Look database is:
- 2013 (78.25 Litres) and
- 2014 (77.14 Litres),
our 10KL per day assumed Base Waste could yet be considered rather conservative...meaning, the problem could be much worst...
We shall of course continue to update and report these numbers over the coming month…