Fire sprinklers waste water
No, this is not some anti-sprinkler campaign (at least I don’t think so). It is a concern in Australia where drought conditions have people looking carefully at water use practices. In this case the practice under scrutiny is flushing and testing sprinkler systems. Here are excerpts from the Herald Sun:
HALF a billion litres of pure drinking water is being wasted each year in Victoria to test fire sprinkler systems in high-rise buildings and shopping centres.
The wasted water could fill 200 Olympic-sized pools when Melbourne’s water storages are at their lowest level for this time of year since the Thomson Dam’s completion in 1984.
Figures seen by the Herald Sun show about 9.5 million litres of class A water are used each week to flush and test commercial fire sprinkler systems in Victoria.
The waste of drinking water has prompted the State Government to call a meeting of 60 government and private organisations to try to save 450 million litres of water each year.
Some high-rises use up to 400,000 litres of water every year to test fire sprinkler systems, said Roger Thomas, fire protection technical director of Wormald Asia Pacific.
He said that with Australia in its worst drought on record, the fire safety industry could no longer turn a blind eye to outdated water practices.
The government and private sector meeting, scheduled for October 29, will provide findings and recommendations on detailed case studies of 15 fire sprinkler sites across Melbourne.
Organisations invited to the forum include representatives from the three Melbourne water authorities, the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Municipal Association of Victoria, Macquarie Real Estate Capital and the Fire Protection Association Australia.
