Taps
Taps represent a large proportion of total water use in any building (e.g. 30% in homes and 35% in offices). Water efficient taps can reduce water consumption by up to 80% per use compared with standard pillar taps.
Water efficient taps can be bought as a new unit and existing taps can also be retrofitted. Most water efficient taps are very low cost and present rapid paybacks.
There are three types of simple water efficient tap, these are:
- aerated taps
- flow regulated taps
- auto stop taps (e.g. percussion or push button)
Aerators and flow regulators come in varying sizes and flow rates and restrict the flow of the tap water whilst not appearing to do so.
Percussion taps release a limited amount of water per use and close automatically.
Some flow regulators are designed specifically for taps and are usually fitted in either the tail or the seat of the tap. In addition to restricting water flow and reducing water bills, regulators can last longer than conventional tap washers and can reduce maintenance costs.
In specialist environments such as healthcare, more complex taps such as proximity detection taps can be preferable, as the user does not need to touch the tap
before or after washing hands.
Domestic taps
Approximately 8% of household water use is at the washbasin. As taps in the home are also used for filling the basin, spray taps are not always appropriate.
Water saving inserts/cartridges can address this problem. These devices can be fitted to most taps with a round outlet hole or standard metric thread and to single lever mixer taps. At low flows the devices spray enough water for washing hands or rinsing toothbrushes. As the flow is increased, the device opens up to allow unrestricted flow.
Commercial washrooms
Taps with a standard outlet thread can easily be fitted with spray heads and many round outlets can also be adapted. Metric fittings accommodate a greater number of water saving devices such as sprays and aerators.
The air gap between the tap discharge outlet and "spillover" level of the washbasin must be sufficient to prevent a backflow of contamination into the pipework.
Technologies and products that are water efficient and fully approved can be found on the Water Technology List. See eca-water.gov.uk