Schools Water Efficiency Program
The Schools Water Efficiency Program (SWEP) is a Victorian Government initiative funded by the Department of Sustainability and Environment and Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
The first stage of SWEP ran from 2006 to 2011 and assisted more than 1,700 schools across Victoria to save water by implementing low cost water efficient plumbing solutions in schools.
This next stage of SWEP is voluntary and will provide data loggers for schools to help continue the education and demonstration of water efficiency in practice. SWEP will assist schools over a three year period.
Studies have shown that schools that use data loggers for monitoring and analysis of their school’s water consumption and for the purposes of educating and informing their students had a significant reduction in water consumption attributed to the information provided by the data loggers.
A specially designed web platform supported by the Water Learn it! Live it! program is available to assist teachers in taking the valuable information from the data loggers into the classroom.
SWEP is designed to achieve the following objectives:
- The supply and installation of data loggers (maximum of two) to any Victorian school that participates in the program.
- Assistance to schools with existing data loggers and ongoing support with an existing data logger service provider.
- Provision of a specifically designed web-based platform for the delivery of school specific water consumption data in collaboration with specifically designed education materials and the ability to report on school water consumption.
- Ability to identify leaky pipes and unexpectedly high water use periods in the schools, as well as helping to identify faulty appliances on school premises in need of repair.
For more information on the program and registration, please visit the SWEP website.
Further information, including case studies and testimonials on the first stage of SWEP, which ran between 2006 and 2011, can be viewed below.