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Bathrooms, Kitchens & Plumbing
A
quaTrip was tasked by Shan-
non Barkes from the Nelson
Mandela Bay Metro Water and
Sanitation department to pilot the
system at the Douglas Mbopa Sec-
ondary School in Motherwell, Port
Elizabeth. The school’s water and
sanitation account was a whopping
R2,8 million over 19 months.
According to Chris De Wet Steyn,
Sales Director of AquaTrip, ‘’With the
failing infrastructure and use of sub-
standard building materials most
schools experience water leaks and
plumbing problems.
The AquaTrip is a permanently
installed stand-alone Leak Detection
System that will monitor the flow of
water into a property and in the event
of a burst geyser, burst pipes, taps
that have been lefton, drips and leaks
on cisterns and so, the AquaTrip will
automatically switch off the water
supply.
Since introducing the AquaTrip
system at the school the school has
achieved an 85% water saving. The
cost of the installation was repaid
from the savings with three months
of the pilot project.
Currently, the school averages
between R70 000 and R90 000 per
month for water and sanitation, this
is well within their allocated budget.
AquaTrip saved the school R360 000
in a year.
At the Oval Office Park, a pilot
project for Growthpoint AquaTrip
reduced water usage by 71% within
the first seven months and saved the
company R52 143 on the irrigation
and sprinkler system.
The AquaTrip system is pre-pro-
grammed to go into ‘sleep mode’
when the irrigation lines are active for
example from4am to 8amand comes
out of the ‘sleep mode’ in order to
protect the irrigation line from any
system malfunction. Should there
be any water flow after one minute
on the pre-programmed time, the
AquaTrip will automatically shut off
the water until the next irrigation
cycle.
AquaTrip’s water leak detection
system was installed at the property
after the company had experienced
excessively high water bills for the
duration of 2013. Consumption after
the Aquatrip installation reduced
monthly consumption from 1241KL
to 364KL.
Another case study undertaken at
Barlow to demonstrate the effective-
ness of the product at the company’s
Barons Woodmead dealership, in
Johannesburg.
De Wet Steyn says that the dealer-
ship had fairly high water accounts
and could not identify the problem.
AquaTrip fitted the AT201E series
to the dealership’s main line, which
would automatically switch off the
water, if a leakwas detected. This way
the system can eliminate any night
flow occurring.
The AquaTrip count indicated that
the unit, since being installed, had
tripped every night after hours, due
to a leak on the property or below
ground. The savings achieved in the
first month at the dealership covered
the installation of the equipment.
De Wet Steyn says that the cost of
the AquaTrip is inconsequential to the
savings that can be achieved by the
installing the system and protecting
the client’s water source.
F o r f u r t h e r i n f o r ma t i o n ,
■
Substantial water savings
AquaTrip’s slogan of ‘Saving every drop’ has really paid off for clients
installing the system. The company has released the findings of a
number of pilot projects outlining the water cost savings and rand
values.
July 2015