IT’S been a while since some decent rain, but when it does, Glen Innes High School will be able to flush away its reliance on town water for the two main student toilet blocks, following the installation of four covered 20,000 litre poly rainwater tanks last week.
The tanks, purchased and fitted thanks to a $50,000 grant under the former Howard Government’s Community Water Grants Scheme (round three), have been installed to collect water from the rooves of the woodwork and design and technology blocks and the covered area.
“The application was a lot of work but it was worth it. Based on normal rainfall, once full the tanks should make the toilets self-sufficient for water and save between $1800-$2000 in council water charges,” the school’s librarian and project applicant Sandy FitzGerald said.
“I have always thought it was crazy to be using expensive town water for toilets. At schools the cost of this water usage is one third of annual water costs. Thanks to this funding we have able to build the infrastructure to collect a and reuse a natural resource more effectively,” she said.
The school was advised last October that it had been successful in applying for a grant, which surprised plumber Jeff Smith who had been asked to quote for the application.
“At the time I told Sandy she was wasting her time; it’s a fantastic result,” said Mr Smith, who prepared the site during the school holidays and finished plumbing work last Thursday. He said the quick turnaround on the project was largely due to the assistance of several others, including Dale Dawson, Wayne Duck, Richard Willis, Brian Hutton, Wayne Williams, Glen Innes Severn Council and his son Brendon.
Having been awarded the funding the school was invited to apply for a $30,000 grant under the Green Vouchers for Schools program. Mrs FitzGerald said if successful, this would fund an additional two tanks to collect rainwater from the rooves of the science building, for use in a hydroponic garden as part of agriculture, and to water the gardens at the front of the school. Ultimately Mrs FitzGerald said she would like to see a “giant” tank under the main oval, large enough to supply all the water needs for the school, including irrigating playing fields.
Meanwhile the school’s agriculture students have finished planting corridors linking vegetation around the school in a project funded by the Border Rivers Gwydir Catchment Management Authority.
Patric Millar from the Department of Environment and Water helped Mrs FitzGerald apply for the $3000 grant, which has been used to plant tree lines around the ag plot between Cross, Margaret and Edward Streets, and vegetation corridors behind the basketball courts and north along Pitt St to the front oval.