HEALTH & SAFETY
THE IMPORTANCE
OF WATER
Water became big news over the summer of 2007. And,
because the big news story was the terrible flooding
afflicting large parts of the UK, water was in the media
and on our minds for all the wrong reasons. Given
both the human scale of the tragedy and the
reported economic cost of some £6 billion, it is
hard to find positives in the floods, but if nothing
else, they have focussed some attention on the fact that the environment is as
much about water as it is about energy consumption.
I
n fact, the whole issue of the When you consider that around 86 per cent aims to encourage organisations to use water
environment is tangled up from all of of the 35 litres each office worker in the UK more efficiently by highlighting the financial
its elements, an interdependent web of uses each day is simply flushed away, this benefits to them.
cause and effect that makes can represent an enormous saving for such a Buyers should also look for products
everybody’s role in environmental simple device. designed to have a minimal impact on the
protection as important as anybody Carelessly or maliciously left-on taps can environment even when their main function is
else’s. This onus provides an opportunity for also be a serious source of water wastage as not environmental protection. One of the
all managers to demonstrate what they well as causing floods, so it can be important features of this new generation of products is
can contribute. to use push action taps that deliver a set how they offer a more holistic solution that
Nowhere is this more true than for amount of water for hand washing. A tap left looks at every aspect of the environment.
building managers who are responsible for on while brushing your teeth can use as A good example of this is the new Eco-
water management. It may seem strange to much as ten litres of water, so imagine the shield urinal sleeve from PHS Washrooms. At
say it given the Summer’s floods, but the impact of a tap left running indefinitely. It’s the heart of Eco-shield is the unique
future problem for them to address is more obviously better to consider this during an Nurazyme™ bio-block that includes natural
likely to be scarcity than flooding. The events installation, it is also possible to retrofit push enzymes and friendly bacteria which
of 2007 followed on from two years of action devices. ‘consume’ urine, to preventing the build up
hosepipe bans and drought orders, Automatic flushing urinals are extremely of uric salt, the main cause of blockages and
particularly in the South east of England useful as a way of maintaining hygiene and smells in washrooms. The design of the
where official statistics show there are some are usually designed to be as efficient as sleeve itself is based on a one-way valve that
58,000 gallons of water available per person possible in terms of the amount of water they allows liquids through but then prevents
per year compared to a national average of use. Nevertheless they can also be extremely odours coming back. The design not only
293,000 gallons. The Chartered Institute of wasteful of water when the number of flushes prevents extraneous waste from entering
Water and Environmental Management is out of sync with the number of people pipes but also has no extensions of its own
recently predicted that summer rainfall in using the facility. To help counter this, there which can fall off and cause blockages. Eco-
some parts of the UK may fall by up to 50 are a number of intelligent water shield is also designed to work in conjunction
per cent by the 2080s. management systems available which with PHS Washrooms’ other services and
Commercial organisations will have a regulate the flushing of the urinal to match products including water
big part to play in dealing with water scarcity. the number of people using the washroom. management systems.
The Environment Agency claims that around Some work by using an infra-red sensor Such systems are likely to become more
a third of all water in the UK goes to to count the numbers of people using a and more commonplace as we begin to
industrial and commercial users and that facility and adjusts the flush rate to once address the wide number of issues linked to
many of these could save up to three every 10 or 30 minutes accordingly. In sleep our new and emerging concerns about the
quarters of their water. Similar statistics from mode, the system maintains hygiene environment. They also demonstrate what will
Envirowise have shown that offices alone standards by flushing once every 8 hours. As become one of the most important new
waste around 310 million litres of water well as addressing environmental concerns, objectives for organisations as the century
every working day and has estimated that a the system also helps to save money; an unfolds; how to save the world and save
very few, simple and inexpensive measures average of around 70 per cent when money at the same time.
could save industry over £300 million a year. compared against an uncontrolled cistern
At the most simple level, one of the most and up to 30 per cent against an More information:
effective is a product such as a water saving unintelligent system. PHS’s own Water www.phs.co.uk/washrooms
device placed in a cistern which can save as Management System has now been accepted
much as a fifth of the water used by toilets. on to Defra’s Water Technology List which
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SUSTAINABLE FM | NOVEMBER 2007
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