Using water wisely – are we doing enough?
May 12th 2009

Bob Purdom, commercial director at Douglas Delabie, specialist supplier of thermostatic control solutions / accessories for the commercial market, says water efficiency technology is proven – the solutions available…

Alarmingly we still use 70% more water than 30 years ago…. Through BREEAM,Government is encouraging proper evaluation of proven water management control with solutions such as electronic/self-closing basin taps/showers delivering regulated water saving flow rates, and electrical interlock to isolate water supply and prevent wastage when a washroom is not occupied.

Effective water management is part of the ‘total building solution’, together with anti scald safety, hygiene and easy-use, lowmaintenance products.

Water savings are available for new and existing commercial buildings,and water diversity improved by automatically regulating water volumes to washbasins, showers,WCs and urinals.

Excessive water supply and drainage costs impact on the

bottom line. With ‘Hot’water costing five to eight times that of Cold

water, from energy, storage and treatment costs, then the impact is

dramatic on high water users like motorway services, schools, leisure

and retail facilities.

Effective solutions

The traditional basin mixer designed for low-pressure applications is a ‘water waster’ in today’s modern commercial plumbing systems. The Douglas Delabie Tempostop (on the Water Technology List) is a cost effective alternative – a time flow basin tap with preset flow rate at 4 litres per minute – and will deliver water/energy savings of over 60%.

The Tempostop AB anti-blocking tap, where flow commences after the push button is released, prevents deliberate flooding of public or school washrooms.New generation electronic controls such as the Tempomatic3 basin mixer can achieve water savings of over 70% - and reduce cross contamination risk.

Thermostatic showers are used around 100 times a day in demanding sports/leisure establishments, Regulating flow at 8 or 9 lpm means considerable water/energy savings.

Urinal flushing systems are major water users with historic cistern problems - long fill times, poor flush, fragile mechanism affected by impurity accumulation. Douglas Delabie offers low maintenance, self-closing/nontouch direct flush solutions providing successive, powerful flushing essential for heavily used washrooms.