Benchmarking Water Efficiency in Public School Buildings
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The initiatives in water benchmarking and water efficient facilities is studied in present, as they represent long-term solutions for water and energy savings. So, the paper addresses a topical issue and I propose it’s publication in its current form.
Author Response
The initiatives in water benchmarking and water efficient facilities is studied in present, as they represent long-term solutions for water and energy savings. So, the paper addresses a topical issue and I propose it’s publication in its current form.
Response: We appreciate your considerations and your proposition to publish the paper.
Reviewer 2 Report
Thank you for a carefully presented study of the factors that influence water usage in schools. My main suggestion would be that for an international audience it would be helpful to include more contextual information about Florianopolis. I know that you have chosen not to include consideration of socio-economic factors, but can it be said if this is a relatively affluent region in Brazil or not? Do the school buildings fall into categories similar to primary/elementary schools versus high schools? Where I live (in Australia) there are some coastal regions which would have a very similar climate to Florianopolis. It would be interesting to see how transferable your results might be. One difference might be that schools in Australia are usually a cluster of low rise buildings rather than single buildings. Could you describe the kind of buildings in the sample in terms of single storey, medium or high rise? Just looking at the Google earth maps it appears that the island communities may be less densely settled than the continental ones. Is this correct? I find your study very interesting. I think more people would find it helpful if you give some more descriptive detail.
Author Response
Reviewer 2
Thank you for a carefully presented study of the factors that influence water usage in schools. My main suggestion would be that for an international audience it would be helpful to include more contextual information about Florianopolis. I know that you have chosen not to include consideration of socio-economic factors, but can it be said if this is a relatively affluent region in Brazil or not? Do the school buildings fall into categories similar to primary/elementary schools versus high schools? Where I live (in Australia) there are some coastal regions which would have a very similar climate to Florianopolis. It would be interesting to see how transferable your results might be. One difference might be that schools in Australia are usually a cluster of low rise buildings rather than single buildings. Could you describe the kind of buildings in the sample in terms of single storey, medium or high rise? Just looking at the Google earth maps it appears that the island communities may be less densely settled than the continental ones. Is this correct? I find your study very interesting. I think more people would find it helpful if you give some more descriptive detail.
Response: We appreciate the points you raised and other comments. The responses for each point are detailed and the location in text lines are indicated.
- Can it be said if this is a relatively affluent region in Brazil or not?
According to the official data agency on population (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE), Florianópolis is well positioned in terms of work, employment and income, when compared to other cities in Brazil. It is the capital city of the state of Santa Catarina. In 2019, it ranked 11 out of 5570 Brazilian municipalities in terms of work and employment.
Lines 107 to 109.
- Do the school buildings fall into categories similar to primary/elementary schools versus high schools?
Yes. The sample is composed of elementary school, middle and high schools (together and not only high school or only middle schools), as well as daycare centres.
Lines 113 and 114.
- Could you describe the kind of buildings in the sample in terms of single storey, medium or high rise?
This information was attempted to be obtained through the “number of pavements” variables. The majority of buildings investigated were single storey but buildings with up to five storeys were found.
Lines 114 and 115.
- Just looking at the Google earth maps it appears that the island communities may be less densely settled than the continental ones. Is this correct?
The island region is, in fact, less dense than the mainland. However, the central and northern regions contain areas with a population density similar to that found on the mainland. It is important to consider that not the entire urban continental region that one can see in Figure 6 belongs to the municipality of Florianópolis. Other cities compose the metropolitan region, such as São José, Biguaçu and Palhoça.
Lines 109 to 112.
Figure 1 was modified to show the borders of these cities and clarify this point.
