Abstract
Abstract The performance of plumbing systems is directly related to water and energy consumption. Malfunction of components in these systems can cause water waste and discomfort to users. In this research, the performance of 607 plumbing fixtures was investigated in five public buildings focused on sports activities in the city of Joinville, Southern Brazil. The flow rates and leaks in all installed plumbing fixtures were verified. The measured flow rate values were compared to those established by Brazilian standards and by environmental certifications LEED and AQUA. Flow rates of showers with water at 40°±2 °C were measured in summer and winter to compare the performance of showers in different seasons. The flow rates in showers displayed worse performance in winter than in summer. Also, 30.9% of taps showed some type of leak and 77.8% of toilets trickled. Of all plumbing fixtures, 71.7% presented some kind of defect. The results presented in this study indicate the main problems related to the performance of plumbing fixtures installed in public sports facilities in Joinville and can be useful in planning building preventive maintenance and water conservation actions.
Highlights
Public buildings correspond to a large portion of urban water consumption, they potentially can achieve considerable savings in drinking water (BERTONE et al, 2018a)
In a study performed in public schools in Recife, Northeast Brazil, the results showed that the leakage index reached up to 27.8%
This paper aims to evaluate the performance of all plumbing fixtures installed in five public buildings focused on sports activities in the city of Joinville, Southern Brazil
Summary
Public buildings correspond to a large portion of urban water consumption, they potentially can achieve considerable savings in drinking water (BERTONE et al, 2018a). In addition to the large number of leaks in public buildings compared to other sectors (KALBUSCH et al, 2018), users of public buildings are not directly responsible for paying water bills. As a consequence, they are usually less concerned about avoiding wasted water (NUNES et al, 2018). The excessive bureaucracy of the public sector makes it difficult to perform a periodic maintenance on plumbing fixtures, and this implies in great amounts of wasted water (KALBUSCH et al, 2018)
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