Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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371. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department will provide for the installation of contactless refill water units in all schools, colleges and universities as part of an initiative to support water conservation and plastic reduction as part of a climate action plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49483/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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At the outset, I wish to advise the Deputy that colleges and universities do not fall under my remit. Responsibility for these institutions falls under the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.

My Department is at the forefront of design with respect to sustainable energy in school buildings and this performance has been recognised at both National and International level with sustainable energy awards for excellence in Design and Specification.

My Department’s Technical Guidance Documents set the benchmark for sustainable design in school buildings with a clear focus on energy efficiency and they are based on solid energy research projects.

All new technologies and approaches are tested to ensure compatibility with school design and operational requirements. Successful and repeatable results are then incorporated into all new school designs and refurbishments. The Departments policy is supported by a strong research programme with 53 research projects at various stages including the energy website www.energyineducation.ie., a joint partnership with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).

The Department recognises the importance of minimising water demand through measures to reduce water usage, such as push type spray taps, low flushing toilets, urinal controls, repairing leaks etc. To this end schools were invited in 2010 to apply for Water Conservation measures and funding of almost €10m was made available to promote water conservation measures as part of this initiative.

In our new school design we provide for water conservation in two key ways.

The first approach is the substitution of mains potable water with rainwater for toilet flushing. There is good potential for recovering or harvesting rainwater in schools to use for flushing toilets and where feasible these systems are provided for in new school projects. All new schools and major extensions have a rainwater recovery system installed.

The second step is the elimination of unnecessary water use, this is achieved a number of means. Water supply for ablution is provided through a single percussion (push) type spray taps. Engagement with schools highlighted that young children used only the cold water taps in schools for washing their hands as they were afraid of the hot tap, associating it with those in their homes which may lack anti-scald provision. Supplying a blended reduced temperature to the hot tap made no difference in their behavior. In response, the Department has adopted a single tap solution to all wash hand basins where the hot and cold water are mixed at the tap intake with anti-scald protection; thus all water outlets for ablution are single percussion taps giving a blended safe water supply.

In addition to the above low water content dual flushing toilets are also installed and automatic urinal flushing devices are also installed in post primary schools (urinals are not installed in new primary schools for operation reasons).

Drinking water outlets have for many years been provided in schools, all primary schools would typically have drinking water provision in each classroom and the external play areas and post primary schools would typically have drinking water distributed both in internal and external play areas.

In line with Climate Action Policy on single use plastic, schools promote and encourage pupils to have their own reusable drinking bottle which they can top up as needed during the day, thus supporting water conservation and plastic reduction while not imposing additional operating costs on School Management.