LINDFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL STAGE TWO TEAM

Before we started the challenge, our group found out about water in our world…

Did you know? A tap left running can waste up to 17 litres of water a minute

We also came up with our own definition of ‘drinking water’

and we considered where we use water at home and at school…

We drew this diagram to represent our thoughts

Part One Finding the Problem

To find a problem area, we decided to go on a ‘water walk’ around our school to have a closer look at the places that drinking water was being used…and misused…

We used a map of our school and a ‘key’ to show the places in the school where drinking water was used We highlighted the places in the school where water was used, by drawing a raindrop, as you can see on the next slide…

It was quite tricky to figure out how to match areas of our school with their location on the map! We persevered, and even went on an extra water walk one day when it was raining so we could see any leaks or puddles in our school.

We then used the data from our ‘water walk’ to complete a graph, as you can see on the next slide…

How we picked our project…

- Staff toilets ? - Behind 4M (uncollected rainwater) - Balcony (water lands on concrete below) - Staff taps ? - Covered walkway (overflow of water from roof onto concrete) - Pool itself - Old green pipes (cracks and leaks) - Bubblers 1)People problems - being left on! - water fights 2) Structural problems -overflow from poor drainage - bubblers that won't switch off From our water walk and graph, we came up with this list…

- Staff toilets ? - Behind 4M (uncollected rainwater) - Balcony (water lands on concrete below) - Staff taps ? - Covered walkway (overflow of water from roof onto concrete) - Pool itself - Old green pipes (cracks and leaks) - Bubblers 1)People problems - being left on! - water fights 2) Structural problems -overflow from poor drainage - bubblers that won't switch off

Specifically, we decided to focus on one particular bubbler trough, which is located near the Grade Three and Four Classrooms at our school.

The bubbler trough – front view I wonder why there is a puddle on the ground next to the pipe?

Why we decided to create a design for this particular site: We could see there were several problems here. The problems were not too big – so we knew we could do something about them. The amount of drinking water being wasted was higher than in other areas.

A closer look at the ground next to the bubbler trough It looks like the water isn’t going down the drain properly!

The water seems to be hitting the edge of the pipe and a lot of it is splashing out and onto the concrete. What a waste!

We also thought it would be a good idea to find out if we could replace some of the old bubblers with new ones as the old ones are REALLY hard to turn off and often leak…as you can see in our next picture.

Part Two Our Idea

Hi Andrew, We are a group of eight Year Three and Four students, taking part in a Sydney Water saving challenge, called Kids' Design Challenge. We have been asked to identify a part of our school where water is being wasted. We have to design and model a solution to this problem. We identified the bubblers used by Years Three to Six as our major problem. (See attached Images 1 & 8). We would like to discuss our ideas with an expert in the field, which is you! There are two main problems with these bubblers. The first problem is that many of the bubblers don't turn off properly, or are very difficult to turn off. (See Image 4) This leads to a lot of water constantly running out of the trough, even when there is no one using the bubblers. (See Image 5) We are planning to ask our SRC to buy us new bubblers that turn off automatically. Only one out of the ten bubblers in the trough is currently automatic. (See Image 9) Would you be able to provide us with an estimated cost of new automatic bubblers please? The second problem is that when the water runs out of the trough it does not go completely into the drain. A lot of water hits the side of the drain and splashes onto the concrete. (See Image 3) Can you suggest any ideas to solve this problem? Thank you very much, Andrew. We really appreciate your assistance. Regards, Lindfield Public School, Kids' Design Challenge Team

Not only did we Andrew, our local plumber, but we also got in contact with our School Representative Counsel, who we heard were trying to figure out a way to replace the faulty bubblers in our school.

Our KDC team drew up a diagram for the SRC, indicating which bubblers were of highest priority for replacing, in the particular bubbler trough we were hoping to improve.

Why we decided on this particular design Just from looking at the site, we could see that some additional pipe could help fix the leak. Simple, but logical! Our local plumber called us after receiving our . He agreed with our idea, and even suggested that a copper pipe would be the best material to use. He is going to come to our school and show our team just how to fix the leak!

How the proposed changes will meet the user’s needs and save drinking water: There won’t be wet slippery, mossy ground next to the bubblers anymore, and this water won’t just fall on the concrete, where it is completely wasted Some of the bubblers will be easier to turn off, which means that they won’t be left running, and more drinking water will be saved

Did you know? A dripping bubbler can waste more than 2000 litres a month. That is 24,000 litres a year!

Thanks for watching and listening to our presentation. We hope you have learned a bit more about saving drinking water. We certainly learned a lot and hope that you have enjoyed hearing about our KDC experience as much we enjoying having it!!

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The plumber came and implemented our design!!!