WSP technical principal for water and wastewater Bridget O’Brien, and Ministry of Education chief advisor for water services Robert van Bentum will present the results of a four-year collaboration aimed at improving drinking water safety in schools.
Across the country, four hundred and sixty schools self-supply their own drinking water – mostly from roof water and bores. Responsibility for these systems rests with school boards and principals, but until recently, the Ministry had limited visibility into their condition.
That all changed following an assessment of ten percent of self-supplying schools in 2021. The findings were sobering. E. coli was detected in a third of the schools in one year of monitoring. While eighty-nine percent had treatment plants, only a third had a drinking water safety plan of any form.
Infrastructure was often overly complex and posed significant public health risks, say Bridget and Robert.
“Schools are focused on teaching and learning, not operating water supplies, so often the level of understanding about their water supplies and risks was very low. In almost every case we looked at, a significant improvement in drinking water safety was needed. The status quo simply wasn’t good enough.”
With safety, cost-effectiveness, reliability, and compliance as core objectives, the Ministry launched a nationwide drinking water improvement programme. The goal was to upgrade school water supplies from source to tap. This included rationalising and simplifying systems, and standardising design and installation.
WSP water engineers undertook drinking water assessments and prepared preliminary upgrade designs for sixty schools with high-risk supplies. They also worked with the Ministry to develop standardised designs and templates. The design philosophy used set out the need for secure water sources, simple and maintainable systems, standardised treatment and tank layouts, treated water storage, and remote monitoring.
To support schools, WSP and the Ministry have produced a suite of resources including a design guide and drinking water safety templates. While tailored for schools managing their own supplies, these documents are freely available to anyone to use.
Bridget and Robert say the resources are especially relevant to small and medium-sized supplies, of which there are thousands around the country - often facing many of the same challenges as self-supplied schools.
So far, twenty school water supply upgrades have been completed with design work well advanced on a further twenty. The upgrade programme is expected to take at least five years and up to $100 million to complete.
One standout upgrade example is Ouruhia Model School, just north of Christchurch. Once reliant on an aging bore and a poor condition concrete tank, the school now boasts a gleaming, state-of-the-art water bore, storage and treatment facility.
As Bridget and Robert prepare to share details of the programme at next week’s Water NZ Conference, their message is clear - safe school drinking water is a necessity. And with the right tools, partnerships, and commitment, it’s entirely achievable.
“Every child deserves safe water at school,” say Bridget and Robert. “This programme is helping make that a reality.”
