A huge amount of time and effort is being spent trying to get people - you and me, the average British householder - to stop wasting water. This can be a very emotive subject. Large sections of the population have been instructed that, due to huge demand and shrinking reservoirs, they cannot wash the car, water the garden or do anything else that involves turning on a hosepipe. This can be a frustrating dictate when, lets face it, Britain is a wet place. Uncomprehending householders complain: it’s not as if we are living in the middle of the Sahara desert is it? It seems that every time there is a break in the clouds, before the puddles dry up on the driveway someone is calling for a hosepipe ban.
However, if we put emotion to one side, look at the issues and scrutinise how we use water, it is clear that we in Britain are wasters....of water, that is.
Do you remember Mark McGowan? He was the artist who left a tap running in an art gallery as an exhibit: his intention being to draw our attention to the water wastage issue. Now whether you think that this sort of thing is art or not is the subject of another and probably much longer article, but what he did achieve was to highlight to the general public how much water they actually waste. By the time Thames Water threatened court action to get him to turn off the tap one month into his 12 month exhibit, the one solitary wall mounted tap had wasted 800,000 litres of water.
If one tap left running can waste that quantity of water, how much is lost through normal fittings and dripping taps in all the houses and public areas in Britain? The answer may be impossible to pin down, but consider this:
- a dripping tap could waste as much as 90 litres a week
- brushing your teeth with the tap running wastes almost 9 litres a minute
- taking a five minute shower instead of a bath uses a third of the water, saving up to 400 litres a week
If we multiply these simple water saving ideas by the number of homes in the UK, it is clear that we could save a truly astonishing amount of water each year. But let’s not lay the entire blame for water shortages entirely at the feet of the British householder. While it is true that as water users we need to change our habits, of course the water companies and government need to lead from the front and start seriously tackling the issue of leaking underground mains supply lines. It is very difficult for the public to accept that water companies are making huge profits, while at the same time losing 900 million litres a day from the supply network, and that - by the way – they must not use a hosepipe because we are running out of water.
It should also be remembered that every drop of water bought must not only be paid for initially so that it can be used (or wasted, as the case may be), but must also be disposed of; this incurs further cost in the form of sewage charges. And when you consider that sewage charges are based on the amount of water consumed, it is obvious that the real cost of wastage in monetary terms is very high indeed. From an environmental perspective the cost of wastage is equally alarming, not only because of the potential ramifications that low river and lake water levels can have on plant and animal life, but also because of the potentially high pollution levels that can be caused by overloading sewage treatment plants beyond their effective working capacity.
Water Meters
In most parts of Europe and North America water meters are fitted as standard in any new build property, and in a lot of cases they are retrofitted as well. These are a very good tool to help people manage their usage: someone who may have left a sprinkler running all night when unmetered will generally think twice when made to realise that they will have to pay for every drop. It is also the fairest system of charging because you pay for what you use; this encourages people to reduce their consumption and they see the immediate benefits of doing so in a very tangible way. Conversely, people who don’t change their usage habits and want to fill the swimming pool twice a year will have to pay extra for the privilege.
Commercial Water Systems
In commercial water systems there is arguably even more likelihood of water being wasted than in the domestic arena because of the added factor of abuse and vandalism that can occur to water fittings in public places. Stories of vandals plugging up sinks, turning on taps full bore and then running off while rivers of water cascade down hallways in schools, sport centres, cinemas etc are all too common. And - as illustrated by Mark McGowan - it does not take long to waste an awful lot of water.
The Solution
|
To preserve the future of Britain’s water reserves, water must be managed in an economical and ecologically sound way. Reliance Water Controls has a long history of providing high quality products to meet the changing demands of the marketplace and the AUTEAU range of timeflow valves, as a tried and trusted product range, is a key part of the Reliance portfolio of water saving and water control devices.
For the past 5 years, Reliance has collaborated with the French company Delabie to form a worldwide partnership, which has proven beneficial to both companies. |
Auteau timeflow basin taps, developed by Delabie and Reliance Water Controls, with push button or lever acutation
|
Auteau timeflow mixer
showers with user-adjustable temperature controls |
Reliance as an expert in design, development and manufacture of thermostatic mixing valves has created the “Premix” brand of thermostatic mixing valves which Delabie sells very successfully in the French market.
Delabie in turn, as a specialist in the manufacture of push button timeflow controls, has created the AUTEAU range of products specifically for Reliance. |
|
By forging a strong partnership and working together, the two companies have utilised each other’s wealth of knowledge and expertise to develop products that are amongst the leading brands in both markets. For the future Reliance will continue to work with Delabie to bring more and more products to the British markets to conserve our ever shrinking water supplies.
Eric Winter, Technical Manager
January 2007
Auteau is a registered trademark of Reliance Water Controls
© Reliance Water Controls 2007 |
Auteau basin timeflow mixer taps: temperature can be adjusted using a rotating handle
| |
