By James Dipping, PE, CPD, LEED AP BD+C, ARCSA®AP
At this time’s constructing house owners, operators, and builders are adjusting to a brand new market surroundings in a post-pandemic world. Many are reexamining conventional capabilities of their services as tenants demand better flexibility, connectivity, consolation, well being, and security. Integrating an clever home water system can have an effect on all these areas.
Good buildings use a variety of present applied sciences to facilitate the environment friendly and economical use of assets. Important tools reminiscent of lighting, air handlers, chillers, and boilers talk with each other via a classy administration system that screens varied elements. They do that by gathering and sharing knowledge between programs.
The purpose is to supply helpful companies that minimizes environmental affect whereas additionally serving to occupants to be extra productive and safer. And whereas your first ideas could go to power monitoring and HVAC (heating, air flow, and air con) controls, a rising consciousness of clever home water programs is trending—and for good cause. Whereas conservation continues to be a key consideration, it isn’t the one one.
Conserving Water Safely
In accordance with current experiences from the U.S. Environmental Safety Company (EPA), water use in industrial and institutional services (e.g., workplace buildings and hospitals) account for 17% of publicly provided water within the U.S. For these properties, restrooms, heating and cooling, and landscaping accounts for a lot of the use. Methods to extend financial savings and effectivity embrace:
- Harvesting rainwater, graywater (gently used water from toilet sinks, showers, washing machines, and many others.), and different non-potable water sources for outdoor irrigation and flushing functions.
- Implement energy-efficiency measures to cut back the necessity for constructing and tools cooling and heating, which can scale back quantity of water required by these programs.
- Putting in extra environment friendly fixtures (reminiscent of twin flush bathrooms, sensor-controlled taps, and many others.)
Nevertheless, I need to place an enormous caveat on the third bullet level. Earlier than speeding out to put in a bunch of low-flow fixtures to avoid wasting water, be suggested that doing so in haste may very well be placing constructing occupants in danger. At this time’s water pipe sizing practices are outdated and don’t think about the decreased volumes of water utilized by widespread low-flow fixtures. These gadgets can go away water within the pipes and enhance constructing water age. Stagnant water in these programs can create an surroundings superb for cultivating harmful pathogens, together with the bacterium accountable for Legionnaires’ illness.
When water was flowing at larger volumes through the plumbing programs, the water purveyor’s major and secondary disinfectants had one of the best probability at eliminating water borne pathogens as a result of the disinfectants used have a shelf life. The usage of low stream fixtures along side outdated water pipe sizing practices permit the disinfectants to run out earlier than the water reaches your faucet. Because of this, pathogens are given the chance to develop and multiply contained in the constructing pipes.
The fixture unit methodology referenced in most plumbing codes to calculate water pipe dimension is predicated on the outdated Hunter’s Curve, developed again within the Nineteen Forties when plumbing fixtures had been consuming water at a lot larger volumes. The plumbing engineering group should query why we’re utilizing a calculation methodology which fails to replicate the truth of as we speak’s low stream plumbing designs.
Constructing house owners and managers ought to work with design engineers to accurately dimension the piping infrastructure of their services utilizing instruments just like the Water Demand Calculator. Whereas this instrument is acknowledged for less than sure constructing sorts within the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC), it’s a place to begin to maintaining water shifting in buildings and recognizing that fixtures are flowing decrease than they had been in 1940. Solely then, can we moderately suggest a holistic use of water conserving fixtures. They’re essential however maintaining buildings wholesome is extra essential.
Whereas conserving water by establishing an clever water system could be an essential issue, it’s far more than that. The well being and security of constructing occupants needs to be the prevailing motivation.
Elevated Concentrate on Well being and Security
Constructing house owners and operators have good cause to be so involved about Legionella as plumbing home water programs are the predominant supply of the micro organism. If Legionella grows in a plumbing system, the micro organism can unfold to people through small droplets and/or vapor inhaled into the lungs. Widespread sources the place these droplets are “made” embrace:
- Showerheads and sink taps
- Cooling towers
- Scorching tubs
- Ornamental fountains and water options
- Scorching water tanks and heaters
- Giant, complicated plumbing programs
So how do the micro organism develop and unfold? Water temperature, disinfectant residual, stagnation, and high quality in addition to pipe supplies and different elements can all contribute to the event of Legionella pneumophila progress within the home water system. The bigger and extra complicated the constructing is, the more difficult it’s to keep up a wholesome, balanced system. Complicating this additional, the age, location, surrounding surroundings, and incoming water high quality can even have a major affect on the event of Legionella micro organism.
Legionella micro organism have a perfect temperature vary for progress which additionally occurs to be proper within the candy spot most constructing occupants favor for laundry, bathing, showering, or soaking in a sizzling tub. And if the constructing occupants are in the next danger class, you will have to think about extra choices, reminiscent of supplemental disinfection to maintain occupants protected.
ASRAE presents a information to “Legionellosis: Danger Administration for Constructing Water Techniques,” which it describes as “important for anybody concerned in design, building, set up, commissioning, operation, upkeep, and repair of centralized constructing water programs and elements.” Likewise, the U.S. Middle for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) presents its “Toolkit: Growing a Water Administration Program to Scale back Legionella Development and Unfold in Buildings.”
Financial Advantages
Along with making buildings safer, more healthy, and extra ecologically accountable, implementing a wise water system can produce other optimistic impacts on an organization’s stability sheet. Planning for the adoption of an clever system can uncover issues, reminiscent of beforehand undetected leaks or malfunctioning tools, which will have in any other case gone unnoticed. Extra complete metering can even establish areas to focus on lowered water use.
Establishing and speaking water conservation and effectivity measures can even place constructing house owners, managers, and firms as leaders serving to to enhance sustainability. Implementing finest administration practices for water effectivity can earn recognition for facility house owners and managers within the inexperienced market.
For a water administration program to succeed, there needs to be a complete strategic plan and imaginative and prescient in place. Understanding your present water makes use of and programs means that you can develop a plan for better water conservation, effectivity, administration, and well being and security. Having clear goals additionally helps your group set priorities to allocate mission funding to have the best affect.
James Dipping, PE, CPD, ARCSA®AP, GPD, LEED AP BD+C, is the technical director of plumbing engineering for ESD, a number one international engineering agency specializing in mechanical, electrical, plumbing, hearth safety, life security, structural, and know-how engineering. James has greater than 25 years of expertise within the plumbing design and building industries. His predominant duties embrace coaching growth and engineering standardization, specification upkeep, design programming, mission administration and staff management, consumer relations, and high quality. James is a licensed Skilled Engineer (PE), has spoken at American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) Tech Symposiums, and has printed a number of articles in lots of trade magazines on varied matters associated to plumbing engineering.