Help and Support for Other Businesses

While educating your pupils about the curriculum, why not add in water saving advice and guidance around what not to flush?

With our range of water saving posters, you can influence your pupils and staff to report leaky loos, turn dripping taps off and use the small flush. You can also find posters to download here to encourage everyone to stick to the 3 Ps rule – pee, poo and paper – down the toilet.

If you work at a university building with halls, you could also put up these posters around your student accommodation.

If you are a large premises such as a school, you may have Reduced Pressure Zone (RPZ) valves in your plumbing, which prevent water going back up pipes and potentially contaminating drinking water.

All RPZ valves must be tested at least once a year by a competent installer. Click here to read more.

As with many educational premises, you’ll likely have an extensive network of water pipes getting water across your site, which makes you susceptible to leaks over time.

Your quieter periods during half term, summer and winter breaks, are the perfect opportunity to scrutinise your water meter readings and identify any leaks. Read our how to guide here on how to test for a leak on your site.

If you suspect you have a leak but are struggling to locate it due to your extensive pipework, then you can install isolation valves throughout your site to narrow down leaks into specific zones. This doesn’t cost as much as you might think and results in a great return on investment if it saves you time searching for a costly leak.

If you have multiple sites or have difficulty accessing your water meter to read it regularly, it can be really tricky to manage your water consumption. You will often only be aware of a leak when you receive a large bill from us.

The answer could be data logging. Water monitoring equipment is connected to the water meter, and you can easily see live analysis of your usage online. You’ll be able to track your water use at a glance, enabling you to spot any potential problems such as leaks and deal with them quickly and efficiently.

Find out more about our data logging service here.

With different members of staff and sometimes also the public using your facilities, it can be hard to manage user behaviour.

With our range of water saving posters that you can download below, you can influence your staff and/or customers to report leaky loos, other leaks, and use the small flush.

It’s key to educate staff around the cost of water and the impact this could have on the business if the water is wasted, such as impact to profit and business security. Many sites cannot trade without a water supply.

If your staff or customers regularly flush items other than the 3 Ps – pee, poo and paper – down the toilet, then you can also find posters to download below to educate them around what not to flush.

Schools are particularly vulnerable to burst pipes during the winter as they’re often empty for days, meaning a burst pipe, inside or outside the building going unnoticed and causing flooding and leaking huge amounts of water.

For closures over the winter period, it’s therefore a great idea to wrap any external pipework with lagging kits before you close. If you have a burst pipe while nobody is around, the leak could cause a lot of damage.

You also may want to drain the water network over the winter to reduce the chances of a burst. If only certain parts of the building are closed during the winter, consider installing stop taps to these areas so the supplies can be isolated.

You should also disconnect any hosepipes to stop them becoming damaged, isolate any external supplies where possible and make sure your sprinkler system is prepared for winter.

Find out more about how to prepare your building for winter here.

One of our aims is to help educational organisations to equip pupils to become global citizens, giving them an understanding of sustainability and its impact on the local community.

Did you know that we have a specific education team who can arrange lessons from seconded teachers all around the water cycle? Find out more here.