Room 5 Project Brief

Water and Sustainability

Rain Water TankJune 2009

• Our Take Action project focus is water and sustainability.

• We walked around and used a map of our school to identify where we see water being wasted at our school that could be collected and used in a rain water tank.

PLUS MINUS INTERESTING

We have vegetable gardens, which we will be able to harvest the

vegetables to eat.

We noticed when we walked around our school that there was a lot of

water not going anywhere around the Scout Hall.

Some of the vegetable gardens are doing well and some of them have lost a lot of vegetables. We

have been learning about water supply in the city compared to the country. We realise that the

country has a more sustainable way of supplying water, which we could copy.

What are the main issues of concern?

Can we take action to solve this issue.

How?

There is water that is not going into a storm water drain. Yes.

We could collect water off the roof, into a water tank, which we could use to

water our plants.

Nanumea, Timothy, Semisi

Take Action project Brief.What is to be done? We are going to put some spouting on the roof of the Scout Hall to collect rain water off the roof to go into a rain water tank.

We are going to collect water and use it on plants and the gardens we’ve made and to prevent water from going to the storm water drain. Using a water tank. This should prevent the grass getting wet from the toilets.

Why should it be done? So that most of the water that falls at our school does not go to waste and we can be more sustainable. We will be helping the environment by collecting water that could be going down storm water drains. We are helping to prevent flooding.

Criteria

1. The Scout Hall site must be “prepared” to ensure the water will not go to waste.

2. We need to seek permission and include our school in the process.

3. Create a plan to ensure that the spouting and the water tank are looked after when they are installed.

How will this help the environment?

We are helping because the water that we collect is being used to water the plants in our school. By doing this, we are more sustainable. The water does not have to be sent to the water treatment plant or to travel along pipes to get to our taps. We are not using electricity or chemicals to produce the water.

Allan, Ata, JR

Planning to achieve the brief

Project - Rain water tank

Timeframe- We are hoping to complete this before the end of term three.

Budget - we need to do some research on what we need and how much it will cost. We need to seek help to get money for our project. We also need to talk to Miss Buckley about what our school can give us.

David, Nikolao, Martin

Our proposed rain water tank plan

1. We need to ask permission from Miss Buckley if we can go ahead with the project. We need to talk to her about who owns the Scout Hall and what the process is going to be for us to allowed to go ahead with our project. We need to complete numbers 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 before we talk to her.2. We need to research what type of water tank we need (Isaac, Deng & Sydney)

3. We need to decide on the best place to put the tank (Martin, Maseiga, Kham Za)

4. We need to research how much spouting we need and what kind of spouting will suit our needs We need to go and visit Bunnings and ask someone to teach us about spouting and what we might need for our project.

5. We need to research what size tank we need (Philip, Filimino, Sio)

6. We need to measure the space we want to put the spouting in (Jaydon, Timothy, Teuila)

7. We need to put together a plan of what we think it will look like (LIlly, Nikolao, Nanumea)

8. Then we can research the price of things we need and where we can get them from9. We need to let the school know what our intentions are10. We need to research and ask for help from tradespeople and people who could donate money etc

Weimannia, Isaac, Tania

Plan of our Scout Hall

Jaydon, Chris, Javagn

Areas Advantages Disadvantages

Middle

We could collect more water and it’s where most of the water goes and it can also

prevent around the scout hall from flooding

It would be in the way of where people play soccer and the tank might break

Left sideIt wouldn’t be in the way

and the awning can shelter the tank

We would need a pipe because of the awning

and we’re not using pipes we’re using spouting

Right sideIt would be a good area

because it’s straight and the spouting would be easy to

clean

There would be no shelter but Richard said that if we get a light coloured plastic tank the water would still

be cool

Ideas to help us decide where to put the water tank

We need 500L of water in our tank to last a dry spell of 4 weeks during the Summer when there’s no rain. So we worked it by...

5days x 5L/day=5 x 5=25/week. 25L x 4=100L/4 weeks. 5 classes x 100L=500L.

But the tank won’t necessarily be full, so our tank could be bigger than this or maybe it doesn’t need to be this big during January because we’re not at

school. We have collected data about the average rainfall in our area for each month of the year.

April 165mm March 525mm Feb 149.5mm Jan= NO Rain Dec 104mm Nov 71mm Oct 137mm Sep 144mm

Aug 262mm July 404mm June 328.5mm May 205mm

We have calculated the area of one side of the roof to be 118 square metres. We have sent this information to Richard so he could help us to work out how

long it would take to fill the tank. We have not yet worked out the size of the tank we need yet because we are waiting

for a reply from Richard.

SIZE OF THE WATER TANK

Toeutu, Fatu, Kham Za, Sio

Websites we could use to buy a water tank

http://www.devan.co.nz/ - Devan Grouphttp://www.tanks.co.nz/- Bailey Tankshttp://www.tanksalot.co.nz/- Tanks AlotHibiscus tanks-0800 428 265http://sites.yellow.co.nz/site/uniclear/- Uniclear Tankshttp://www.galloway.co.nz/-Galloway internationalhttp://www.fibreglasstanks.co.nz/-Fibreglass Tankshttp://www.megason.co.nz/- Megason Limited

This is what our tank could look like

http://www.hydroflow.co.nz/

The unique corrugations on the side walls of the Promax tank range give both extra strength and contemporary look. Added bonus, proven fact. Strong polyethylene construction requires no maintenance and no tainted tast

PM450450ltr tankDiameter - 880mmHeight - 820mmOutlet - 20mm

PM10001000ltr tankDiameter - 1030mmHeight - 1420mmOutlet - 20mm

PM20002000ltr tankDiameter - 1300mmHeight - 1735mmOutlet - 25mm

\

http://sites.yellow.co.nz/site/wilsonplastics/Storage%20Tank.html

ALL NEWPolyethylene liquid Storage Tank

The TT1200 captures rain water for recycling by fitting snugly under any eave with your building downpipe connecting directly into it. It's 2m+ height makes it ideally suited for gravity-fed garden soaker hoses in both urban and rural environments.

• Model: TT 1200 • Capacity: 1200 Litres • Max. Height: 2160mm • Diameter: 890mm • Weight: 33 kg

http://www.devan.co.nz/Devan Water Tanks are suitable for agricultural, commercial and domestic applications. They are very competitively priced, extensively developed and tested, and come with a 20 year warranty. Their generous material weight, modern range of colours, and minimal installation requirements easily make these tanks your first choice.

Capacity: 1,000 litres (220 gallons)Width: 875mmHeight: 2.02 metresWeight: 30kgOutlet: 2 x 50mm (2 inch)BSP fitting.

Capacity: 4,550 litres (1,000 gallons)Width: 1.9 metresHeight: 2.0 metresWeight: 112.5kgOutlet: 1 x 50mm (2 inch)S/S BSP fittings

http://www.rainharvesting.com.

SuitabilityPopular due to its lightweight material which makes for easy site preparation and installation. Poly tanks are now the most common for household use and come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours.Site Preparation : A base of cracker dust or sandIn Ground : Yes, consult the manufacturerGuarantee : 25 years, ask for the manufacturers guaranteeRepairable : Yes, consult the manufacturer

Corrosion resistant and sturdy, fibreglass tanks are a relatively expensive but long-lasting option.Site Preparation : Compacted cracker dust or compacted cement stabilised sand or concrete padIn Ground : Consult the manufacturerGuarantee : Ask your supplier for a written one prior to purchaseRepairable : Yes, consult the manufacturer.

Our meeting with Miss BuckleyWe need to be able to share the following ideas with her: Where we are thinking of putting the tankOur plan, with measurements of the Scout HallThe kinds of tanks we are thinking of usingThe size of the tank we are thinking of gettingPlaces where we can get rain water tanks

We need to ask her the following questions:Who owns the Scout Hall? Are we allowed to put a rain water tank near the Scout Hall? Can the Scout Hall be mended? If we find out the cost of going ahead with this project, will the school be able to pay for it or pay for some of it, if we can get some help from other places?

Planning to achieve the brief

How do we best achieve criteria two?

Resources?

Tools?

Planning to achieve the brief

How do we best achieve criteria three?

Resources?

Tools?