News

Pupils at Michael Drayton Junior School are now experts in water efficiency and sewer savviness after a visit from Severn Trent.

The company visited the Warwickshire School to give a special assembly all about saving water and how they can help keep the sewers blockage free.

Malcolm Smith, who gave the assembly, said: “Small actions can make changes when it comes to your waste or water, and we want the children to understand that they can make a real difference. Simple things like swapping a bath for a shower, or binning wipes instead of flushing them, can have huge benefits.”

Severn Trent supplies 1.9 billion litres of drinking water each day, which is the equivalent of 721 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The company also collects around 32,000 litres of waste water a second, every day.

“A big focus of the visit was teaching the youngsters how to look after our sewers. We showed them how things like wipes and nappies should always be binned and not flushed, and how fat and oil from cooking should be put into the bin and not down the drain to prevent blockages,” said Malcolm.

In the last year Severn Trent has been called out to nearly 50,000 blockages across its region, and has found that, in Nuneaton, the sewers are regularly blocked due to sewer misuse.

Joan Wainwright, teacher at Michael Drayton School, said: “The visit from Malcolm tied in really well with the topic for this term ‘Go with the flow’ where we talk all about how water moves and how it’s used. It was also eye opening to learn about the sewers and how we play such an important role by making sure we don’t flush things we shouldn’t and by putting fat in the bin! I will definitely be telling everyone this as I’m sure no one wants to be flooded!”

Severn Trent encourages its customers to keep a bin in the bathroom, and offers a solution to fats, oils and greases by giving away free gunk pots.

To order your free pot, visit savewatersavemoney.co.uk.