Wake County Public School System Increases Water Conservation Measures
August 20, 2002--Already a good steward of its natural resources, the Wake County Public School System added several water conservation measures this week in light of Governor Mike Easley's Executive Order to protect North Carolina's water supply.
WCPSS has the following water conservation measures in place:
Child Nutrition Services
· CNS is eliminating dish machines from schools and is using
recycled disposables instead. Dish machines are the largest
consumers of water in the cafeteria. Only six schools of the
125 schools are currently operating dish machines.
· (NEW MEASURE) All cafeteria managers are asked to
order disposables until the drought has passed.
· CNS orders the majority of its fruits and vegetables already
washed and cut.
· The majority of faucets have aerators, which put air into
the water and reduce water flow. · When washing laundry, cafeteria
managers adjust the water level to the lowest setting and
only wash one load of towels a day.
· New schools have "front loaders," which use about half the
amount of water as "top loaders."
· (NEW MEASURE) If the amount of available laundry
permits, cafeteria managers will only wash laundry every other
day.
Athletic Fields/Irrigation
· (NEW MEASURE) WCPSS is interested in keeping its
athletic event fields alive, but is not interested in keeping
them green. In order to preserve this investment, the school
system is getting advice from a turf management specialist
on how often fields need to be watered and will share that
information with athletic directors.
· Even before the drought, WCPSS did not water plants or grass
- except at new schools. Irrigation systems at high school
football, baseball and other fields followed the watering
restrictions set by municipalities.
Bathrooms/Faucets
· Custodians are being extra vigilant in checking bathrooms
for leaks or running water.
· WCPSS installs low-flow toilets at the new schools and at
schools undergoing major renovations.
Car Washes
· (NEW MEASURE) WCPSS turned off the car wash for system
vehicles as of 8/16/2002.
· (NEW MEASURE) Eliminated car washes for school fundraisers
until drought has passed.
· A few months ago, WCPSS stopped washing school busses.
Other Conservation Measures
· Millbrook Elementary School has a cistern system to catch
water run-off as part of its new construction project.
· Middle Creek High School uses treated sewage for irrigation
purposes. Lufkin Road Middle School also has this irrigation
method available, but has not started using it yet.
Other conservation measures may be added in the future.