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Reservoir High School joined the Schools Water Efficiency Program (SWEP) in May 2015 to more closely monitor water use at the school. Shortly after, the school also joined the electricity monitoring program where a daily data feed from the electricity smart meters is uploaded onto the schools SWEP page as well.
During the first few months of water monitoring the school was able to identify issues with toilet cisterns that were periodically sticking causing water to run all night and wasting thousands of litres per day.
Since joining SWEP, Reservoir High School has saved more than 6.3 million litres of water that would have otherwise cost them $24,000 in water related charges.
The daily data is uploaded on the schools SWEP web page where staff and students can access their information. In the event of high or unusual water use, emails alerts are also sent to school administrators to ensure the issues can be addressed as quickly as possible.
SWEP electricity monitoring commenced in 2013 and, to date, more than 160 schools across the state have benefited from access to interval electricity data. Provided through the SWEP website, the data is a valuable tool for informing decisions about school infrastructure and maintenance works.
This means schools drawing much or all of their water usage from facilities such as tanks or bores are eligible to have data loggers fitted to these devices to provide them with the best possible analysis of their water consumption.
SWEP is available to every school across the state and the program will subsidise the cost of the supply and installation for all participating schools. Schools are still required to commit to paying access fees for the program in years two and three of $150 (ex GST).
Where the majority of the schools consumption is supplied by non-reticulated means, such as tank or bore water, SWEP will also subsidise the cost of installing a meter so a data logger may be installed.
SWEP is delivered and funded by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action and the Department of Education and Training. Yarra Valley Water is the project manager for the program on behalf of the Victorian Government.
