Elfab harvests rainwater to reduce environmental impact
TV-inspired collection system saves hundreds of pounds a month
As part of its ISO 14001 environmental improvement drive, pressure relief specialist Elfab has recently installed a rainwater collection system to provide water across the company’s manufacturing and office facilities.
The system has been designed to be expandable, as it is intended to provide up to 75 per cent of the company’s water needs. A UV filtering system allows collected water to be used in all parts of the business, except for human consumption.
Elfab’s operations director, John Fulton, and maintenance manager, Dave Mellody, were inspired to come up with the scheme after watching a housing design programme on television. The programme revealed the amount of water typically consumed by domestic toilets and plumbing systems, from which the Elfab employees were able to extrapolate an estimated figure for the company’s usage. The scale of this figure prompted them to design a system to conserve water, saving Elfab hundreds of pounds a month.
“Elfab is always looking for innovative and cost-effective ways to reduce our impact on the environment,” said John Fulton. “Once fully understood, this suggestion was quickly adopted by the company.”
The system collects rainwater from the building’s roof and diverts it into two 10,000-litre storage drums. Elfab carried out all preparatory and internal pipe work to reduce the installation cost.