By Paul McKeown,
DfE Water Strategy Team
Paul McKeown works in the Department for Education’s
Water Strategy Team. In this blog post, Paul shares some useful
tips to help prepare your school for winter and reduce the risk
of disruption that adverse weather conditions can bring.
I lead on the delivery of flood protection projects for schools
that are at the highest risk of flooding. Having worked in the
water industry for 30 years, I want to share some of my
experience and key preparation tips to help keep your school
operating without disruption as we move into the winter months.
Cold temperatures can lead to burst pipes and sometimes these can
run for a while before they are discovered, for example, over
school holidays where buildings are closed for an extended
period. This can lead to extensive damage.
Do you know where to turn off the water in your school? It’s a
simple point, but an important one. Something you could consider
installing is an actuated valve and a water meter linked to the
building management system. This would enable you to turn off the
water remotely and quickly in case of an internal burst. An
actuated valve has a small motor attached to a valve that can be
controlled by the building management system, so when an alarm is
triggered, or unusual flows noticed, you can act quickly and and
investigate the cause.
To reduce the risk of burst pipes, I recommend you check that
exposed pipework is lagged (insulated). This is not only useful
to prevent freezing, but beneficial for saving energy as it keeps
the heat in. Tanks should be insulated, but not from underneath
as the heat from the building is used to stop them freezing.
If any work has been undertaken on the pipes at your school,
check the insulation has been replaced properly. To prevent
freezing, activate your heating's frost protection setting and
consider trace heating spaces with water storage/pipework to
maintain the temperature above freezing. Trace
heating is a where a small heater maintains the temperature of a
space and/or pipes directly to prevent them
freezing.
When there has been an extended cold period and then sudden
warmer weather, a ‘freeze thaw’ event can occur underground. Of
course, just because you can’t see the water, it doesn’t mean
there isn’t a leak. A good way to check for hidden leaks is to
read the water meter before and after holidays and shut off the
internal pipework overnight to see if the meter changes. Lost
water can be costly, so don’t forget to claim the leakage allowance for
sewerage charges if you have had a significant leak.
We have already seen storms and flooding this year. Simple
preventative measures like removing leaves and silt from drains
and clearing gutters and downspouts can make a difference. If
you’ve got bushes and grass growing out of them, it’s not a good
sign.
If you experience sewage flooding contact your water company to
investigate, there’s no charge for this. Pictures and videos are
always helpful to inform any investigation. It could be caused by
a temporary blockage or a more serious issue, and the water
company is required to keep a register of properties with sewer
flooding issues so always ask for a copy of their report.
Quick tips
- Check the EA mapping
tool to see if your school is at risk of substantial flooding
from rivers, coastal areas, or surface water. I’ve made this
short video
that will hopefully help demonstrate how easy it is to find
out this information.
- Register for flood alerts. You can sign up for
flood warnings on GOV.UK and don’t forget to sign up for
weather warnings from the Met Office.
- Prepare a flood plan. The Environment Agency has a useful guide to help you
think about where the risk is likely to arise and what key
assets (boilers, servers etc.) would be impacted. If the worst
happens flood water can be dangerous, even when shallow due to
hidden obstructions such as lifted drain covers, moving
objects, and the risk of being trapped or swept away. If you do
not have personal protective equipment (PPE), rescue equipment,
and training, you should not be in flood water and any flood
plan that requires staff to move through deep or fast flowing
flood water puts them at significant risk.
- There are some simple measures you can use for flood water
management to tackle the most likely issues. Puddle pumps can
lift water 2mm deep, sandbags filled with dehydrated gel absorb
water (leaky pipe/roof) or pre-wetted sandbags work as a barrier
and are much better than traditional sandbags. Please remember to
dispose of sandbags that have been used in sewage-contaminated
water. A small flood self-aid kit can help significantly mitigate
damage from flash flooding.
- Storms bring high winds so it’s important to think about
safely securing outdoor furniture and play equipment.
I hope this information is useful in planning protection measures
for your school.
