Hillcrest Christian College year seven students, back, Brett and Callum and, front, Maddie, Lauren and Seraphina.
By Sarah Schwager
A LOCAL school is years ahead with its energy-saving initiatives and self-sufficient for water.
Hillcrest Christian College in Clyde North has no town water and must collect its own rainwater and deal with sewage.
Built on 56 hectares, the school has wetlands and supports a large variety of wildlife.
John Smithard, the school’s project manager, said water tanks, solar panels and filter systems provided the school with environmentally friendly energy-saving options.
Water from the creek is pumped into a holding dam and used to supply garden water and flushing water for toilets.
Rainwater is also collected at the multipurpose centre for tap water.
Recently the school received a government grant to collect, filter and recycle water.
They are about to install two more water tanks and a pump.
Three Casey Council grants provided bird hides and nesting boxes. The school also received two National Heritage Trust grants to plant native trees.
Mr Smithard said the school, which opened 17 years ago, was designed to be self-sufficient.
He said one of the best things about the resources, such as the wetlands and solar panels, was that they could also be used as a teaching aid for the school’s 600 students.
“The students use the wetlands in their education. They are taught canoeing down there and they go camping,” Mr Smithard said.
“They also get to see the solar-power system working close up.”
Mr Smithard said they would still need to install more water storage units when a stadium with two basketball courts, toilets and showers was built.
“Our fossil fuels are running out,” he said. “We all need to do whatever we can to reduce energy consumption.”
He said the school also aimed to install a wind generator for electricity and to pump water from one dam to the other so they could put fish in the dam.
