A typical hospital will use 1,460 litres of water each year for every square meter of floor space, almost 55% of water used within a hospital will be used in sanitary facilities. Saving water therefore makes good sense for both environmental and financial reasons. The Environmental Agency estimates that most buildings in the UK can easily reduce water consumption and their water bills, by around 40%. For a hospital this is obviously a massive benefit and one that can be realised without compromising hygiene, infection control and patient care.
Almost 25% of all water used in a typical hospital washroom comes out of taps and mixers. A tap with a flow of 12 litres per minute which is used a 100 times a day for 20 seconds each time will use close to 400 litres of water each day. By specifying a tap with a flow rate regulator the Environment Agency has measures up to an 80% reduction in this figure. Alternatively, electronic sensor taps or timed shut-off push taps may be used to reduce water use by 15% and prevent wastage.
The installation of urinals instead of WC’s in male washrooms will immediately save water compared with the same number of WC’s. Despite thus, urinals still account for over 10% of water usage in the most hospital sanitary facilities. Recent developments in waterless urinal technology can reduce this figure to virtually zero- A urinal that does not flush simply does not use water!
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