Cornwall schools save 15 million litres of water a year

A dripping loo nobody had noticed. A tap that ran a little too freely. A flush that used far more water than it needed to. None of it looked like much on its own, but across the region it added up to a genuine problem, and a fixable one. As children in Cornwall head back into the classroom this Thursday for the start of the new school year, 57 schools across Devon, Cornwall and Somerset are already benefiting from a much quieter change made over the summer months.

What the visits involved

South West Water’s water efficiency team spent the year carrying out assessments at the schools and fitting a range of simple devices designed to cut water use without anyone having to change the habits. That included kitchen and bathroom tap inserts, shower flow reducers, urinal flush controls and save-a-flush devices, alongside checks for hidden leaks, which were then fixed on the spot.

It is exactly the kind of unglamorous, easy-to-miss problem that a leaky loo represents. Left alone, it can run up a bill for months without anyone realising, and a school full of taps, showers and toilets has a lot of places for that to happen unnoticed.

The numbers behind the saving

Combined, the schools that took part are now saving 42,960 litres of water a day between them. Multiplied out across a full year, that comes to more than 15 million litres, and the saving continues even during the school holidays, when a leak or an unchecked flush would otherwise keep running with nobody there to spot it.

For schools already working with tight budgets, a lower water bill means more money left over for the things that matter more directly to pupils.

Megan Williams, Water Efficiency Delivery Manager for South West Water, said: “Schools are at the heart of their communities. It’s fantastic to see so many schools embracing simple water-saving measures and achieving such impressive results.

“Every drop counts. By making small changes, schools have demonstrated how collective action can make a real difference, helping to conserve water and build resilience for the future.”

Teaching pupils where the water actually goes

Alongside the practical fixes, South West Water also runs educational sessions for primary school children across the region, aimed at helping them understand water efficiency and the life cycle of the water that comes out of their taps. Sophie Moore, the company’s Community Education Officer, delivers many of those sessions herself across Devon and Cornwall, and several of the schools she has visited have also had water efficiency devices fitted.

Four of the schools Sophie visited this year achieved a combined saving of 2,410 litres of water a day after organising their own efficiency visit, including having leaky loos fixed.

Sophie said: “It’s brilliant to see how much water the schools we have visited are saving. Engaging with students on our most precious resource is so important and I hope that more schools come forward for more lessons and water efficiency visits so we can keep young people informed.”

Schools interested in booking a lesson can find out more through South West Water’s education programme, while more on the water efficiency visits themselves, including tips on cutting water use, is also available on the South West Water website. For now, it is 57 schools and 42,960 litres a day, and Sophie is hoping the phone keeps ringing.

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