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ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
3. Reduce consumption with efficiency and optimisation, and
reduce waste.
4. Install a municipal backup system designed to supply the
reduced consumption.
5. Supplement with alternative sources like rainwater and borehole
water.
6. Continuously monitor flow and consumption.
One Highveld, a complex that offers industrial, commercial, and retail
space, was the identified site for the case study located in Centurion,
Pretoria. Following the aforementioned steps, we effectively reduced
historic consumption by 73%.
This was achieved by managing incoming pressure, fixing leaks, and
installing our patented toilet flushing mechanism in all the toilets. The
interruptive flushing mechanism is a simple device that replaces the
flushing mechanism in the toilet. When pushing down on the flushing
handle or button, the system will only flush for as long as you hold it
down. As soon as you release the handle, the flushing stops. This allows
precisely the least amount of water required to clear the pan. The system
holds enough water for multiple flushes from the cistern, but with the
larger volumes always available when needed.
In an industrial or commercial setting, the savings from toilets can be
as high as 66% and has been proven by various projects, including
this specific project. This device â the Supa Flush Lite â is being
rolled out by Dutton Plastics (DPE) and will be available for purchase
from most major plumbing outlets.
April 2019 Volume 25 I Number 2
With the demand lowered and in control, a backup and rainwater
harvesting system was implemented. Since the commissioning of the
system in January 2017, close to 1 600kâ of rainwater was supplied at
potable water quality to the entire facility. This means that almost 25% of
the total consumption was supplemented with filtered rainwater.
In the past two years, this site consumed the same volume of municipal
water as it would have done in six months before the project â a total
reduction in municipal water demand of close to 75%.
Following the success of the pilot project, AQUAffection was tasked by
Emira Property Fund to roll out AMR devices to buildings across the
country to identify possible leaks and inefficiencies and to rectify high
consumption where possible.
Since May 2017, these AMR devices have been rolled out to the
various buildings and the work commenced. Part of the initiative was
to provide various service providers influencing water demand, with
daily notifications if any inefficiency or leak occur within 24 hours of
the occurrence.
This meant that no leak or toilets were left running for excessively long
periods as in the past, as shown in Figure 2.
The result: Across all these buildings, a total water saving of 47 million
litres was achieved through improved efficiencies and timeous reaction
to rectify erratic spikes in consumption. Of this volume of saved water,
more than four million litres were from harvested rainwater.
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