Durban school saves litres using app
A Durban school has reduced their water consumption by using uniquely South African technology.
|||Durban - As the country struggles through a crippling drought and the government pleads with citizens to save water, a Durban school has reduced its water consumption by 10 million litres a year by using uniquely South African technology.
The Wyebank Secondary School near Kloof piloted the Electronic Water Management System developed and patented by a local company, Cyclone Technologies. It shuts down the school’s water in the evenings and opens it in the morning when pupils and staff arrive.
The technology, which can be operated via an app on a smartphone, has reduced the school’s municipal water bill by more than half, said principal, Dr Saths Govender.
“We used to spend between R40 000 and R50 000 a month on water. Since installing the water management system we now spend around R20 000 a month on water. Not only have we saved around R200 000 a year on our water bill, but we are saving a precious resource,” he said.
As a result of the water savings, the school – having been nominated by the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa – sent two pupils to the World Water and Food Awards in Malaysia last year where they received an award and a R1 000 cash prize.
Govender said the school had been baffled in 2014 as to why it was spending so much on water. With the help of staff, Cyclone Technologies’ new water-saving product was discovered.
The company, which had not yet used the technology, decided to pilot it at the school last year.
“The school was the first in the world to use it,” Adele Narainsamy, chief executive of Cyclone Technologies, said.
She said that after installing the system, they found about 30 000 litres of water were being used at night.
“We discovered it was underground leaks and the system allowed us to isolate the leaks and repair them,” she said.
Narainsamy said the system did allow essential water to run to the caretaker’s room at night as well as making water available for the security guard. The technology is able to detect, in real time, if there is a leak or a sudden pipe burst.
In case of fire breaking out or a night function at the school, administrators are easily able to turn the water on using a smartphone app.
Narainsamy hopes to see the technology rolled out to other schools across the country, as well as to public and private institutions.
She would not say how much the system cost to install, but said institutions with high water bills would recover the cost within a year.
“We believe every new school that is built should have this technology. We estimate we can save one school on average 876 583 litres of water a month. Not only is that a huge financial saving for them but it’s important in saving water.”
eThekwini Speaker, Logie Naidoo, who attended the Cyclone Technologies presentation at the school this week, said the water management system was very beneficial.
“Initiatives like this contribute to our efforts to save water. We need to find ways to make this technology affordable to schools.
“We have numerous water leaks at schools and other public places.
“They are big losses and schools are not in a position to pay big water accounts.
“Hopefully this technology can detect leaks early and we can stop the losses in time,” he said.
lee.rondganger@inl.co.za
Daily News