Water Fountain Project

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Water is an important structural component of skin cartilage, tissues organs.  For human beings, every part of the body is dependent on water.  Our body comprises about 75% of water, the brain has 85%, blood is 90%, muscles are 75%, kidney is 82% and bones are 22% water.  Hence the functions of our glands and organs will eventually deteriorate if they are not nourished with good, clean drinkable water.

The business case outlines how the Water Fountain Project will address issues with regard to the readily availability of drinking water experienced on campus, however our focus will be mainly in the EMS department.  As a result a number of students have turned to sourcing water for drinking purposes from unhygienic places such as toilet sinks.  The group will be involved in consultations with fellow students and EMS staff in finding amicable solutions to address the issue at hand.  This will involve purchasing and installing at least two water fountains within the department. 

1.1. Issue

Water is a necessity in our daily lives, biologically it is required that one should at least drink two litres of water every day. Students are concerned with the lack of availability of safe drinking water tap and as a result drinking from the toilet sink which is unhealthy and could lead to waterborne diseases. Below are some of the main concerns raised by students that were interviewed in the EMS building, which includes:

·         Lack of safe drinkable water.

·         Lack of sufficient drinking water facilities around campus, as a result turning to toilet sinks.

·         High spending on water bottles.

·         Health consciousness of the students.

  

1.2. Anticipated Outcomes

Installing the water fountains will enable students have access to safe drinkable water as well as reduce the cost of spending on water bottles. It is also noted that the availability of water can lead to the reduction in consumption of fizzy drinks which in turns reduces the rate of obesity in students. The water fountains will not only benefit the students, but will benefit all university stakeholders such as: the cleaners, the securities, lecturers, etc. all these group of people will have access to the water fountains since all of  them cannot afford  buying water every day. Water is an essential need for everyone.

1.3. Recommendation

Various alternatives were analysed to determine on the best way to implement this project and ensure that it is a deliverable to the student benefits. The project will meet the main objective of providing healthy water facilities to the students and other stakeholders at large. The approach to the project will involve many stakeholders, such as; the lecturers, the students, the cleaners, the administrators, and all other relevant stakeholders.   

A number of students were consulted before the project is carried out in order to ensure that there is a demand of the water fountains, and the number of lecturers as well as some of the administrative workers was questioned in order to hear their view about the concern of the availability of access to water facilities around campus.

The water fountain will benefit these stakeholders in different ways, these are:

·         Students will have access to clean water at any time of the day and reduce their spending on buying water from the cafeteria.

·         Lecturers will benefit in a sense that if they don’t have their key to the kitchen on that day, especially in the weekend, they will have access to drinking water from the fountain which is healthy; it will also avoid them from buying water from the vending machine.

·         Cleaners and administrators will benefit by having access to clean water since most of them will not be able to afford buying water every day.

·         The water fountains will also benefit all stakeholders in terms of health conscious as it has been proven to reduce obesity in the number of people.

1.4. Justification

The project is aligned with the mission of the university which is to care for the future of tomorrow’s generation. Through the implementation of the water fountain, it will results in a greatly assisting the digestive system for students after eating their lunch. This has been biologically proven that our bodies need a lot of water in order to aid digestion and also to provide a healthy alternative to other meal time beverages. The other main concern is that at present the students are drinking water from the toilet sink which is unhygienic and unacceptable in a modern university.  It is therefore recommended that a water fountain should be built in an area where mostly students meet or assemble.

Water is healthy and it contains no preservatives such as sodium that makes people thirstier. It is has zero calories. Water has other benefits of providing energy to students, such as making the students feel full so this avoids them from overeating and some researcher have shown that students who are well hydrated perform well in academic tests.

Several alternatives were examined and the water fountain project was selected for proposal because it provides the best opportunity to realise benefits in an expedited manner while also allowing for the greatest improvement in the health conscious and academic performance of the students. Other alternatives had greater risks, even though with benefits but difficult to define and also they will take long to execute.

1.5. Limitation

The project expects some of the limitations related to the University budget that is already done, and also getting the right resources on time to implement the project as a deliverable. Other limitations include, finding a sponsor to fund the project, and convincing the dean of faculty to implement the project. The availability of time allocation to finish this project is very short.

2. BUSINES CASE ANALYSIS TEAM

The following individuals make up the business case analysis team. They are responsible for the analysis and creation of the Implementation of the Water fountains at the EMS department business case.

Name/Title	Description/Role
Frans O. Shangadi (chairperson)	Providing guidance and direction, collecting doing research work.
Uchebundu Osuagwuh (Vice-Chairperson)	Collecting data and doing research work. Takes minutes, draft and prepare final report.
Olavi T.M. Shilumba (Liaison)	Collecting data and doing research work. Finding sponsors
Hapa R. Madyira (Team Process Lead)	Lead interview and consultation sessions
Nashon A. Egoh (Information group Lead)	Collecting data and doing research work.

3. PROBLEM DEFINITION

3.1. Problem Statement

We have noted that the University of the Western Cape lacks water fountains or outside water taps around the campus and as a result students are often forced to make use of toilet taps to get drinking water or buy from cafeteria which is costly for students.  This is quite unhealthy and we would like to look into this problem area as our project on how the University may improve the situation.

Very few water taps are found around the campus and none in the EMS building which is one of the faculties with a high number of students. The students are therefore forced to drink water from the toilets, and this caters for all students and some of the administrative workers in the EMS building. This is “unhealthy” said some of the students.

3.2. Organisational Impact

The water fountain project will impact the EMS building in several ways. The following explains how the EMS’s stakeholders and other university stakeholders will be affected as a result of the project. It will have impact on the health of the students, their academic performance, and the environmental by keeping the campus clean of water bottles. This is described in the table below:  

Stakeholders/Customers	Description
Students	·         They will have access to clean healthy water. ·         Improve their academic performance ·         Reduce obesity among the students ·         Reduce the spending on bottled water ·         Speed up the digestive system after having their lunch
Lecturers	·         Will have access to clean cold water anytime of the day. ·         They don’t have to rely on the cafeteria or the machine vender to buy water.
Cleaners	·         They will have access to clean water at anytime ·         They don’t have to drink from the taps in the toilet anymore. ·         Cut their spending on water from the cafeteria or the machine vender ·         They earn a lower wage, but couldn’t afford buying bottle water.
Administrators	·         They will have access to clean water at anytime of the day. ·         Due to the fact that some of the administrators are part-time, they will have to clean hygiene water after working hours since they don’t have the kitchen keys. ·         Reduce their spending cost on buying water bottles.
Campus control unit	·         They will have access to clean water anytime of the day. ·         They will not spend money on buying water bottles and this will improve their budgets.

The maintenance of the water fountain will be the responsibility of the students and the cleaners. This will include the cleaning of the fountain in order to avoid contaminations diseases that one can catch up on sharing equipments. A close supervision at the water fountains will be set up in order to avoid the water wastage with the assistance of the UWC campus control unit. In the long-run, with the improvement of student academic performance, the university will increase its academic throughput.

4. PROJECT OVERVIEW

This section emphasises on the project description, the goals and objectives, the performance criteria, assumptions, constraints and milestones. It consolidates all project specific information and enables one to understand the project easily, since the problems, impacts and recommendation are already described above. As the project is approved, each of these components will be highly detailed as we work toward the main project plan.

4.1. Project description

The project will aim to provide sufficient number water fountains for the students and all relevant stakeholders. It also aim to alleviate the use of toilet taps for drinking as this is unhygienic for the students and other people who benefit from this kind of water usage. The water fountains that will be provided will take health consciousness as the first concern, by ensuring that students will not be able to place the mouth on the fountain when drinking, but at the same time it will be user friendly.

The water fountain project will contribute to the health consciousness of the students such as obesity. The project will also result in greater benefits of lowering the students and other stakeholders’ spending, accessibility to healthy water every day.

 Additionally, the project will improve the students’ concentration in lecturers especially during a hot day and this can improve their academic performance. The water provides energy, not like other type of drinks that contain sodium and other preservatives. By implementing this project, one of the basic needs for the student will be met, and the faculty or the university at large will meet the objectives of increasing the passing rate. The environmental concern will also benefit in a sense that some of this water and beverages bottles that being sold on campus are unrecyclable which is dangerous to the environment.

4.2. Goals and Objectives

The Water fountain Project will indirectly support the University’s goals and objectives established many years ago. The following is the list of goals and objectives that this Project will support.

University Goal/Objectives	Description
Provide lifelong learning to enhance the quality of life and the development of people	·         The project will enable students to have energy and concentrate in the classroom and this will lead to better academic performance.
Concern for local, national and global issues	·         The project will enable recycling of bottles which than contribute to the environmental awareness of community.
To contribute towards economic development, social justice and community empowerment	·         The project will enable us to reduce obesity in students, which will lead to high life expectancy- that will lead to economic development.

4.3. Project performance

The project’s anticipated business outcome performance will be measured using the reporting system and a Timeline schedule. This will later be measured through quantifying and will be more detailed in the project plan.

Reporting system: The reporting will enable identification of any discrepancies within and during the progress of the project, and how to deal with these discrepancies (gaps).

Timeline schedule: To inform the project team as to how far they are from completion of a certain phase.

4.4. Project Assumptions

The following assumptions will apply to the Water fountain. More of the assumptions will again be added later as the project proceeds.

·         More than 50% of the EMS students will have access to clean water by the end of October 2011.

·         The stakeholders will be made aware of the benefits of the project.

·         Searching for funding to sponsor the project.

·         The project has necessary support from undergraduates, post-graduates, lecturers, the cleaners, and campus control unit.