Studies have shown that the UK wastes an estimated 3 billion litres of water every day, and water bills continue to increase year on year — yet there’s a simple solution that could help the country to significantly reduce its water consumption. Simon Cottom, MD of Cottam & Preedy, highlights the benefits of the company’s CP961 isolation valve.
When we consider water conservation from taps, shouldn’t we be looking at the heart of the problem? For years now the industry has vacillated over the best solution when, for more than a decade, the answer has been staring us in the face, in virtually every plumber’s merchant in the country.
So what is this wonder solution? Quite simply, it’s an isolation ball valve that provides the most reliable, future- proof means of regulating the water flow yet invented. If you haven’t encountered this valve yet, the reasons are not hard to explain. For many plumbers there simply isn’t the perception of a big enough cash return in it for them, and for householders the idea of water saving just isn’t top of the agenda when they are having that new bathroom or kitchen installed.
Yet very significantly, many architects — driven by both performance and ecological concerns — have latched on to the efficiency of these valves and are specifying them in both new-build and refurbishment projects, but that still leaves a vast swathe of missed opportunities.
Time for action
So what is to be done? Surely the only effective answer is legislation. If this seems drastic, just think about the alternatives. A White Paper that simply recommends a preferred flow rate places a big responsibility on a largely unregulated industry.
There are literally thousands of tap designs available to the installer, most of which are chosen by consumers on aesthetic rather than practical grounds. The temptation for installers to cut corners and bend the regulations for the benefit of a happy customer is considerable.
By making the installation of an isolation ball valve with flow rate control capabilities mandatory, all confusion and evasion is instantly eradicated. It really is that simple.
Foolproof solution
Any plumber can purchase a CP961 isolation ball valve and fit it just like any ordinary valve. With the correct cartridge installed, the flow to literally any tap is regulated to exactly the desired volume. Nothing else has to be considered. No calculations, no checking that the tap complies with legislation, no need to think at all, in fact.
It sounds idiot-proof, and it is. But until the control of water flow to taps through isolation valves is made law, it just won’t happen. Human nature will see to that.
And what of the future? Who knows what flow rates will be seen as desirable in ten, twenty or thirty year’s time if the predicted change in climate becomes reality? Once again the CP961 comes into its own. The flow rate can be adjusted in seconds simply by slotting in a different cartridge.
Already, this is a product that carries the Waterwise Marque and is included on the Governments Water Technology List, enabling tax benefits, but perhaps now an even higher level of recognition is appropriate.
In the current climate it is easy to fall into an unfocussed approach to water conservation, but a pause for thought reveals that there is a logical answer which has been overlooked for too long. Isn’t it time that such a fundamentally effective, foolproof solution as the CP961 isolation ball valve should be a mandatory component of our water saving strategies?
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