RALEIGH - Fox Road Elementary School fifth-grader Heveen Cheko and an elite cadre of classmates have the extra duty of combing through school bathrooms, checking for leaky pipes and toilets or dripping faucets.

The students are part of the school's new water conservation "SWAT team." Each Friday, about 12 students are armed with a checklist ready to report any leaks in bathrooms, in classrooms or at water fountains.

So far, these water conservation task masters have reported about six problems a week. Most of the problems have been minor and have been fixed by the school custodian. In some cases, the problem has been handled by a team member simply tightening the knob on the sink to stop a slow drip.

Heveen takes her mission seriously.

"This is so important, because what would we do without water?" the fifth-grader said.

Creating this young squad of water watchers is one measure Wake County schools are using to help conserve water as the Triangle continues to grapple with the worst drought in North Carolina since the late 1800s.

Wake, Durham, Johnston and Chapel Hill-Carrboro school districts nipped the gallon-guzzling practice of watering athletic fields months before city leaders started tightening water restrictions. Wake school leaders said they have also eliminated vehicle and bus washing.

Orange County schools have reduced field irrigation to 10 minutes every other day. That has saved the district 96,000 gallons each week, said Mike Gilbert, a district spokesman.

Inside the buildings where students learn, Wake and Durham schools have switched to using paper, plastic and Styrofoam products, including lunch trays in the cafeteria to cut down on dish washing. Orange County schools are making the same switch.

Last year, Wake County -- the largest school district in the state -- used 227 million gallons of water. Since the district eliminated outside irrigation, water use has dropped 12 percent. Water use is now down to about 8.9 gallons a day for each student and teacher, school officials say.

Wake school leaders say efforts to conserve water have been in place even before the Triangle's drought became more dire.

Newer schools are built with larger sinks that allow the water to spray out for about 10 or 15 seconds. This allows more students to go through the lines for hand washing. But the jumbo sinks also conserve water, because they shut off automatically. And waterless urinals were installed in schools about five years ago.

Now, Triangle school leaders say their prime conservation measure is to aggressively check faulty pipes. Work orders that used to take a couple of days or weeks to address are now a top priority, school leaders say.

"We're not letting those wait," said Stephanie Knotts, a spokeswoman for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school system.

Wake has also ordered 4,500 low-flow water devices to be installed at more than 50 older schools.

"We're trying to reuse water, and incorporating that with environmental stewardship" promotes water conservation, said Mike Burriss, Wake schools assistant superintendent of facilities.

School leaders are also more vigilant about increasing water conservation awareness among the students and staff. Posters plaster school hallways, reminding students and staff members to conserve water and turn off faucets. The same message is hammered home with videos played in classrooms and with pages on school district Web sites. Drought talks are woven into classroom lessons. Instead of giggling in the bathroom, students are now monitoring how long their classmates wash their hands.

"We're at the point, if we don't conserve, we're going to run out," fifth-grader Matthew LaGanke said. "Just a little drip from the faucets can bring us closer to not having any more."

Fox Road teacher Amy Constant gave her students a checklist to take home so they could measure their families' water use.

"The kids understand that water is important," Constant said. "They want to wash their hands and flush the toilet."

Many schools in the Triangle haven't carved out more money for water conservation. But schools such as Millbrook Elementary School and Heritage Middle School in Wake have cisterns that collect rainwater that pumps directly to where there's a need for the precious liquid. In some cases, rainwater is used to flush toilets.

Ed Buchan, a water conservation specialist with the city of Raleigh, said Wake has done a good job saving water, but the drought could force the district to spend more money on additional measures such as more cisterns or waterless urinals

"I suspect they have a limited budget," Buchan said. "But it may be something to think about."

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