Water Loss Outside of School Hours

I have for some time stressed the importance of data capture, although have only ever published the end results. The image above is a collage of almost one month of photographs of a schools' Water Meter, religiously taken every school day (not weekends) at around 6am and 6pm. At the particular school in question, these images have been captured since November 2018 and illustrates the importance the schools places on reducing waste. It takes dedication from both the member of the Maintenance Team and the School, to continue this effort for almost two years, which will for sure continue in the future.

Whilst it would be easier to install a "check meter" and capture readings remotely, we have found that time stamped photographs are irrefutable evidence where the Municipality submits prolonged Estimated Readings.

The result of the daily readings can be seen below, where the difference between AM Readings and PM photos gives us During School Hours Water Consumption (BLUE) and the difference between the PM Readings and AM Readings, gives us Outside School Hours Water Consumption (RED).



AQUASTOP™ is installed at the school, which very carefully controls waste Outside of School Hours. The individual day where the RED consumption is high, was the result of "loadshed", and AquaStop™ automatically opens in the event of loss of electricity.

It is clear that capturing data is an effort, although Suntricity collaborates with many schools where this data is being captured twice daily. The point here is that it's not that difficult... a simple directive from the Principal and SGB and the Caretaker and Maintenance Team will do the rest. Without this data, it really is impossible to understand if the school has a problem and where investment focus should be.