Pause before you flush to conserve water

  • | Thursday | 23rd March, 2017

"Usage at home is no different, with only around 10% of the daily water usage going towards drinking and cooking. "Among these, the most useful one for water conservation would be using reclaimed water in flushes, said Deshpande. "Of the 45 litres used per person per day, 30 litres is spent in flushing. To check this usage, there are three main guidelines in the code — using dual flush systems for half (3 litres) or full (6 litres) flush as needed, metered faucets that close after releasing less than 1 litre of water, and using reclaimed water from sewage treatment plants for use in flushes. "He said, "In any commercial building, the usage of water is about 45 litres per day per employee, and 15 litres per visitor.

Pune: Pausing for thought before pushing on the "long flush" lever could go a long way in solving the water issues of the state.A consulting firm's study suggests a large quantum of the water needs of the state is being wasted by installation of consumer-grade fixtures in public-use washrooms and toilets at non-residential buildings. According to the January 2016 study carried out by Concept International Business Consulting (CIBC) for a toilet fixtures company, as many as 89,711 kilolitres of water is used per day at various commercial spaces.One kilolitre denotes 1,000 litre.According to the year-long study, these spaces, including malls, offices, hotels and airports, can save between 50,000 to 57,000 kilo litres of water per day using fixtures meant specifically for public toilets.Explaining the difference, the country head of the toilet fixture company said, "A home flush system uses between 9 and 12 litres of water per minute. A special public use fixture can reduce it to 4.8 litres. This awareness is especially needed in cities such as Pune, where real estate is growing faster than in Mumbai."Usage at home is no different, with only around 10% of the daily water usage going towards drinking and cooking. The rest is used for washing clothes and utensils, bathing and flushing. While there is water wastage, there are guidelines in place to control it. The problem, however, is that they are suggestions and not law.Pune-based plumbing expert and past chairman of the Indian Plumbing Association (IPA), Pune chapter, Subhash Deshpande, said: "The 'Uniform Illustrated Plumbing Code — India' was developed jointly by IPA and International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials in 2008. It is a code developers can voluntarily choose to adhere to. The code prescribes conservation of water through various means in commercial buildings."He said, "In any commercial building, the usage of water is about 45 litres per day per employee, and 15 litres per visitor. To check this usage, there are three main guidelines in the code — using dual flush systems for half (3 litres) or full (6 litres) flush as needed, metered faucets that close after releasing less than 1 litre of water, and using reclaimed water from sewage treatment plants for use in flushes."Among these, the most useful one for water conservation would be using reclaimed water in flushes, said Deshpande. "Of the 45 litres used per person per day, 30 litres is spent in flushing. Even with the introduction of some fresh water, we can get the reclaimed water to comprise 25 litre of the daily usage, which reduces the daily fresh water usage by more than half in commercial spaces," he explained.Across the country, the adoption of this technique is less than 10%, while metered faucets are present in 25% commercial toilets and dual flush systems have 80% adoption, said Deshpande, one of the authors of the code.

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