Institute of Plumbing helps primary school

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MOSSEL BAY NEWS - It was World Plumbing Day on 11 March and the Institute of Plumbing SA (IOPSA) in the Southern Cape chose Herbertsdale Primary School as a beneficiary of its services.

Each year, nationwide, plumbing companies who are members of IOPSA provide donations to and do work at a worthy institution.

At Herbertsdale, inland from Mossel Bay, the boreholes have dried up, so water is trucked in on a daily basis.

IOPSA Southern Cape chairman Marius van Wyk said: "We looked at conserving water for the school hostel, which uses the most water, as well as at energy conservation.

Photo gallery: IOPSA helps Herbertsdale Primary School

"By replacing 14 old shower heads we estimate to save at least a 100 litres per day per shower session, totalling about 300 litres per day, just in showers.

"With regards to energy, we consolidated geysers that are only used in the day with geysers that are used at night time and which were coupled to heat pumps.

"The hostel has 60 lights. We got donations to replace all 60 globes with LED ones to cut the consumption of energy as it is a direct expense to the school hostel. This will enable the hostel to redirect the monthly savings to paying for food.

Vegetable gardens
"The hostel has vegetable gardens, but due to there being no water, vegetables had to be bought.

"We cleaned out the stormwater system, which is a well designed system with a hidden underground reservoir of which the school was unaware. We could only get one extra water tank to assist with rain water harvesting, but with the stormwater system now cleaned and working, the new gutter system can accumulate water.

"The underground facility we measured can hold 42 000 litres of water. With this system working, the hostel will be able to water the gardens again. As it is, we have just had rain this week, which will fill that facility quickly."

Acting mayor of Mossel Bay Dirk Kotzé attended and thanked the plumbers and their staff and all the sponsors involved for their contributions. He also lent a hand with installing a geyser.

Alderman Kotzé was presented with a Plumbing Africa magazine to read.

More than 50 plumbers took part in the maintenance work, with some coming from as far afield as Plettenberg Bay to work at no charge.

IOPSA Southern Cape chair Marius van Wyk (second from left) and acting mayor, Alderman Dirk Kotzé (left), with the plumbers.