Kevin Gates, Managing Director of Neoperl UK, discusses the importance of water usage efficiency.
It’s a fact that on present projections, many parts of the UK will face significant water deficits by 2050, particularly the southeast where a high proportion of the UK population live. It’s also a fact that in the UK each person uses on average 141 litres of water every day — the highest usage across all European countries.
We all have a part to play in changing our buying and usage habits, plumbing and heating industry suppliers and merchants have to ask if enough is being done.
If you’re involved in the supply of materials for new homes, you will be very aware of the drive — through Building regulations Part G — to develop more water efficient homes. Planning authorities expect limits of 125 litres of water per person per day on new developments and it’s only a matter of time before a similar focus on older residential properties.
So, any products that help both the developer and plumbing installer reduce water usage have got to be considered as precious items for merchants to stock and advise upon.
Over 30% of all water used in the home is through showering and bathing and this is where the fitting of a flow regulator or Pressure Compensating Aerator (PCA) can help. These small devices can be retrofitted and inserted at the end of a tap spout or upstream of the shower outlet, to reduce and regulate the water flow.
A standard European shower will produce around 18 litres of water a minute and yet a comfortable shower is possible from a shower head delivering 12 litres of water. If one considers a 7-minute shower a day, that’s 42 litres of water saved by one person per shower. Add to that the savings that can be made by reducing the flow in bathroom and cloakroom taps, which are often just used for cleaning teeth and hands, and the savings really add up.
And if the homeowner is saving the amount of water used, they are also saving the energy that heats it.
There’s always been a little more resistance when it comes to saving water in the kitchen, understandably as we want to be able to quickly fill our pans for cooking or kitchen sinks for washing up. However, a new innovation may hold the answer.
The Mini Ecobooster introduced by Neoperl is an aerator for the kitchen tap that can be switched from water-saving flow to full capacity in an instant allowing the tap to be on ‘ecomode’ for general use but boosted to a fuller flow when required. This flow device protrudes slightly from the tap and can be switched easily into boost mode by pulling the sleeve upwards.
After closing the tap, it always switches back into the default water saving mode. It solves any argument on a water saving device resulting in a lack of performance.
Based in Malvern in Worcestershire, Neoperl UK is a huge manufacturer of water devices and produces many different sizes of flow regulator. Most UK taps and showers are compatible with just a handful of product sizes so by stocking a small selection of these aerator products and advising your installer customers accordingly, it could have a significant effect on helping to hit our UK water saving targets.
For more information on Neoperl UK’s range of water saving products, go to: https://www.neoperl.com/global/en/home/
