Analysis of average per capita water consumption in municipal schools of Joinville/SC: a qualiquantitative investigation

Abstract

Schools play an important role in the sustainable management of water consumption, as environmental awareness must start in the school environment. The objective of this article was to analyze the per capita consumption of water in municipal schools in Joinville/SC. The methodology adopted was a qualitative and quantitative field research, initially directed to 91 municipal elementary schools. For data collection, questionnaires were sent with 37 structured questions, systematically and organized into 13 thematic sections, obtaining sample representativeness of 62 schools. For these, monthly consumption data was collected from the local concessionaire, for the year 2022. The consumption data were treated, organized and consisted, leaving at the end 50 schools considered statistically representative. It is concluded that the average per capita water consumption indicator in municipal schools was 7.58 (l/student/day), a lower value than previous studies, although considering different samples, previous consumption estimates remain valid and relevant with little variation. It was also not possible to identify significant variations in consumption between school and vacation months.