We are now fully complete and are burning the disc.
We have had ups and downs producing it, but we are now done........
Got to do our evaluations now.
Friday, 11 December 2009
Waterless Urinal
Are waterless urinals a health hazard or a water saver’s friend?5 February 2009
Tags: Urinals - water & waterless, Water Efficiency / Dry Drains, North AmericaPage 1 of 4 | Single page
Tags: Urinals - water & waterless, Water Efficiency / Dry Drains, North AmericaPage 1 of 4 | Single page
The controversy began in early 2005 when the Council ruled that waterless urinals would not be included in the United States’ Uniform Plumbing Code.
That decision was subsequently appealed by waterless urinal manufacturer, Falcon Waterfree Technologies, which secured the support of 20 California water districts in presenting its case.
However, at the November appeal hearing, the anti-waterless-urinal case was argued by a sanitary engineering expert, supported by the California State Pipe Trades Council in association with grass-roots lobby group, Communities for a Better Environment.
Dr Fox argued that “… the no-flush urinal ignores hard-learned lessons on sanitation and reverses over a century of practice by failing to provide consistent cleaning of the urinal wall and replacing the permanent seal with one that has to be changed every 30 to 90 days.”
Furthermore Dr Fox noted apparent deficiencies in waterless urinals relating to alleged sewer gas leakage, odor, wall deposits, sealant integrity, pipe deposits, maintenance and aerosolization.
It was a compelling argument. After all, the main function of the permanent water seal and flush action in modern toilets and urinals is to prevent sewer gases and pathogens – such as dysentery, typhoid and SARS – from finding their way into the bathroom or restroom environment.
Yet waterless urinals have been installed in many different kinds of buildings in the US including schools, universities, sports stadiums, McDonalds' restaurants, Wal-Marts, resorts and offices.
For every reported failure, you’ll find a success story about how the flush-free fixtures have brought water savings and other benefits to that facility without apparent health problems.
So what’s the case for waterless urinals – and should they be allowed in the US and other countries with rigorous national plumbing Codes?
Floating barrier to sewer gases
The United States National Energy Policy of 1992 requires urinals manufactured after 1 January 1994 to use no more than 3.78L (1 gallon) per flush. The previous standard was 11.35L (3 gallons) per flush, but higher flush volumes are common in older buildings.
This means that replacing urinals in a facility more than 10 years old with water-free ones offers an opportunity to save water, sewer, installation and maintenance costs, since they require no water to flush, no piping, and no flush valves or other control hardware.
According to European company Ernst (www.ernstsystems.com), the first water-free urinal was invented in 1894 by Swiss engineer Fritz Ernst.
The modern Ernst Water-free Urinal is a specially designed syphonic trap containing a biodegradable, low-density, viscous barrier liquid that floats on top of the urine to form a seal. This floating seal prevents drainpipe odors from coming back into the restroom.
Most water-free urinals available today – such as Falcon, Uridan, Duravit, Waterless and McDry – also use this floating seal principle, based on a barrier liquid either supplied in a pre-measured amount with a replaceable cartridge, or as a refill for topping up liquid seal traps at specified intervals.
There is another type of no-flush urinal with a mechanical trap that automatically closes after use. Brands based on this principle include Franke, Keramag and Sphinx. (US sources interviewed for this story stated that the US Code prohibits the use of traps with moving parts for protection against sewer gases.)
The seal’s the thing
In the US, the growing demand for ‘green’ offices and commercial buildings – boosted by the launch of a building rating system called LEED™ (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) in 1999 – has led to rapid uptake of water-saving technologies.
Falcon Waterfree Technologies offers a range of vitreous china urinals with a replaceable liquid-seal cartridge, and its website (www.falconwaterfree.com) has many examples and case studies documenting annual water and sewer use savings for customers.
The company’s vice-president government affairs, Danny Gleiberman, says the no-flush operation also reduces opportunities for vandalism (no handles or valves to damage) and fits in with the ‘touch-free’ restroom concept.
According to Mr Gleiberman, the Falcon Waterfree cartridge is the only liquid-seal trap in the US with a bayonet locking device that allows the replacement cartridge to be firmly locked in place, preventing the escape of sewer gases.
“As to the objection that no-flush urinals are less hygienic than flushing ones, we can cite independent scientific research that shows this is not the case. Water and dampness provide a breeding ground for pathogens, and the aerosol action of flushing spreads them to all surfaces in the restroom.”
Installation and maintenance
Like any plumbing fixture, water-free urinals need to be installed and maintained according to manufacturers’ instructions and plumbing regulations.
“One of the requirements in the US plumbing code is for a minimum (downward) slope for drain pipes in all plumbing applications,” Mr Gleiberman says.
“However, with retrofits, many of the old piping systems installed in the past don’t meet today’s code.
“We train installers on retrofits to make sure that the correct slope for the code is there so waste is allowed to drain away.”
Another training point is the proper use of cleaning chemicals, because improper cleaning can break down or flush away the biodegradable sealant in water-free urinals. Mild cleaners are recommended and, indeed, will do the job – without water in the urinal, there is no mineral build-up and studies show there are fewer bacteria in the bowl.
“There is not any more work required for cleaning staff to clean water-free urinals – it’s just a bit different,” Mr Gleiberman says.
“We make information available wherever possible – the printed instructions that come with the replacement cartridge have a pictorial diagram illustrating proper maintenance and cleaning, along with our phone number and website printed directly on the cartridge.”
An urban planner by trade, Mr Gleiberman is on the Board of the Los Angeles chapter of the Green Building Council, and has a strong commitment to sustainable development and the LEED rating system.
Testing the water in Asia
Falcon Waterfree cartridges can now be found in a range of urinals sold in China under the brand-names American Standard (US), Inax (Japan), HCG (Taiwan) and Sunnytone (Singapore and Malaysia).
Ditmar Gorges, executive vice-president in charge of Falcon’s Asian market and based in Manila, says that interest is particularly strong in northern China, where clean water is scarce and where water supply and sewer rates are high, compared to the south.
“In China there is a huge commitment from the government to do something about water conservation in the north. This is driven by an organisation called NDRC – National Development and Reform Commission – which supervises the Ministries and sets all kinds of policies, from the environment to the price of coal.
“The NDRC is keen to consider making water-free urinal technology mandatory in some regions.”
Another market that is responding to water-free urinals – and at surprising speed, according to Mr Gorges – is the Philippines. In this case, it was not the government behind the push, rather CEOs of companies such as McDonalds and local fast-food rival, Jollibee, keen to establish their credentials as good corporate citizens.
From flush to flushless
The Sloan Valve Company (www.sloanvalve.com) is a name synonymous with flush-valve technology in the US.
William Elvis Sloan designed the Royal Flushometer in 1906 to replace the old high-volume cistern-type water closest, which flushed 23L (6 gallons) of water per flush. The Royal remains the company’s biggest selling flushometer, gracing millions of flushing urinals throughout the world.
In recent years, Sloan has turned its attention to helping customers gain points towards LEED certification.
Now it offers water-free urinals (with Falcon cartridges), alongside solar faucets, dual-flush commercial flushometers, tank-style pressure-assisted flush toilets and electronic sensor-activated urinal valves.
“There is a definite trend towards incorporating water-conserving measures within new building designs,” says Jim Allen, LEED-accredited water conservation manager with the Sloan Valve Company.
“A recent study reported that in 2004, approximately 2% of the new US non-residential construction market comprised green buildings, which translates to a $3.3 billion a year industry, a figure that could rise to $10 billion by 2010.
“Because water conservation is an integral part of the LEED program, water-saving technologies are bound to experience significant growth as this trend continues.
“In some cases, water costs in the US are doubling and tripling. This is raising the consumer’s awareness of the value of water and driving conservation efforts.
“Water-free urinals are a more efficient means of eliminating waste, and while it seems counter-intuitive that a flush-valve manufacture would market such a technology, it’s absolutely in alignment with our history and our mission.
“We have water-free urinal installations in applications ranging from schools, hospitals, and office buildings to stadiums and airports.
“They do, however, require the commitment of building supervisors to keep their cleaning and maintenance crews properly trained and educated. But, when properly cared for, the savings can be tremendous.”
In the front-line
Water conservation is critical to California, where the debate on flush versus no-flush urinals has caught the public’s interest. Already the State imports water from the neighbouring States of Arizona and Nevada and from the Colorado River.
A keen supporter of the technology – Michael Foster, Green Building coordinator with the City of San Jose, California – has become used to meeting resistance when seeking approvals for new or retrofit installations. Mr Foster’s role is to ensure that sustainable design principles are incorporated into the design and construction of San Jose’s public facilities.
San Jose’s potable supply is supplemented by a system that supplies high-quality recycled water from its tertiary treatment plant to public, commercial and industrial customers in three cities through a 100-mile-long pipeline.
Public and some private sector facilities near the pipeline must be connected to this system in order to reduce potable water use. The recycled water is used for flushing toilets, landscape irrigation and air-conditioning cooling towers.
During summer months, San Jose uses up to 56 million L (15 million gallons) of recycled water.
“California tends to lead the way when it comes to environmental initiatives. As an example, we have the most stringent energy code anywhere in the US,” says Mr Foster.
“But, at the moment, water-free urinals are seen as a novelty by the local plumbing community and, as a result, have not been fully embraced.”
Approval process
“To get a waterless urinal approved in a San Jose facility, you have to apply for an alternative method and means, an application proving the product you’re installing is equal to, or better than, what is required by the existing plumbing code.
“The reason is that the plumbing code calls for a ‘flushing action’ in the toilets.
“San Jose currently has two city facilities with water-free urinals, out of half a dozen projects constructed over the past four years. The projects with water-free urinals were approved by a city plumbing official who was supportive of the concept.
“The objections depend on who you talk to and when you talk to them. One day, it will be that water-free urinals don’t work. The next day, it’s that they breed bacteria and other airborne pathogens.
“Our experience in the field indicates that waterless urinals are a viable alternative if we can overcome scepticism about this new technology.”
Mr Foster knows of at least one case where waterless urinal ‘failure’ was, in fact, a lack of understanding on the part of facilities managers to ensure that maintenance staff where following manufacturer’s instructions.
Mr Foster visited the site and discovered that the replaceable cartridge had not been changed over at the specified interval. After maintenance staff had been instructed to follow the correct replacement and cleaning procedure, the odour problem disappeared.
“When we went back later and asked the maintenance staff, ‘Does it take you more time to do it?’, they said, ‘No. The only difference is we have to change the cartridge’. - and that takes all of about 30 seconds!”
Seeing it first hand
What about those plumbing officials who have doubts about the effectiveness and safety of waterless trap technology? You can’t go past seeing the evidence first-hand, says Mr Foster.
“Software developer Adobe Systems Incorporated, manufacturer of Adobe Acrobat and other desktop publishing software, wanted to retrofit its three office towers with water-free urinals.
“The city plumbing official had reservations, but he did allow the company to install two pilot fixtures alongside two traditional fixtures in their newly completed third tower for comparison testing.
“A year later, they pulled the urinals off of the wall, inspected them, and found, if anything, that the waste lines serving the waterless urinals were cleaner and had less build-up than the traditional urinals.
“On the basis of that study, he concluded that water-free urinals should be, and subsequently have been, approved for Adobe Towers.
“The new policy in San Jose is that waterless urinals can be approved for commercial buildings that have professional building maintenance staff.
“Right now, waterless urinals are on the cutting edge – and it takes a while for people to embrace new technologies.”
The right conditions
Waterless urinals are not the only way of saving water in the toilet – dual-flush systems, for example, can also contribute significantly to water conservation.
But there may be a good case for using them if you can answer a few key questions in the affirmative:
- Are the connecting drainlines Code-compliant, i.e. do they have a minimum positive slope?
- Have maintenance and cleaning staff been instructed on correct procedure for maintaining the liquid-seal trap (i.e. cartridge changeover or barrier liquid top-up at manufacturer-specified intervals; use of mild, non-alkaline cleansers)?
- If odor is a problem, are surrounding surfaces, particularly porous ones such as grout in tiles, washed down regularly to clean up ‘slops’?
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Edit process, and upcoming last day
over the past week we have been heavily focusing on editing our documentary rushes. we have had two tapes worth of film, so it has been a lot of time spent in the editing rooms. we have been shortening interviews, and making many different sequences for our final piece. we have written a script, and so this has helped us complete our edit, as we now know what is to be said in the voice over, and how to edit the sequences.
we have one day left of solid editing, in which we will complete our documentary, all that is left to do is insert the voice over's in the right places, smooth out the audio levels on certain clips and smooth of the edit. we will also decide on any background music.
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Panorama: Bottled Water Who Needs It???
Bottled Water: Who Needs It? | ||||||
Our investigation might give you something to chew on. Back in the 70s we drank hardly any bottled water. I remember distinctly going to 'the continent' on holiday back then and viewing the inhabitants with a mixture of pity and superiority as they drank from the bottle and mistrusted their tap. But who's laughing now? We drink 200 times as much bottled water today as we did back then and the market in Britain is worth close to £2 billion. 'Eau' chic Ironically it was those very European associations that gave bottled water its marketing cachet.
And once that high class link was established, British brands took off too - Buxton, Malvern, Strathmore and the rest. Today, to be truly exclusive, water is sourced from even further afield - Hawaii, New Zealand and Fiji. So, now should we stand back and admire the brilliant machinations of capitalism and its ability to create wealth and jobs from nowhere or shout out that the emperor has no clothes? Health and hydration The bottled water business itself makes no claims for the healthiness or safety of their product above what flows from the tap and in our blind taste test tap water performed quite well. But the industry does insist that they're encouraging people to drink more water rather than sugary soft drinks, thus helping the nations health and hydration. But I sense a sea change, driven by an undercurrent of environmentalism which now questions economic activity rather than celebrates it.
Then you've got the plastic, only one quarter of which is recycled or the glass that eats so much energy to make and re-use. Our environment minister, Phil Woolas, cited all these as motives for returning to the tap (although he did admit to being still partial to a drop of the fizzy stuff). But it was something else which led him to claim that bottled water was "morally unacceptable" - the discomforting fact that while we have perfectly good tap water we spend approaching £2 billion on bottled water when a billion people around the world don't have safe water. In effect, we treat water as a luxury bauble while others die from its absence. Fiji Water One of the places we import bottled water from Fiji. Called Fiji Water, it travels 10,000 miles to be sold in restaurants and upmarket shops such as Waitrose, Harvey Nichols and Harrods.
We visited villages where bad water had triggered an outbreak of typhoid - 20 people had been infected and one had died. We saw hospitals reporting a constant flow of patients laid low by dodgy drinking water. The Fiji Water company is not responsible for the islander's supplies. They provide water to some villages near the plant and they are putting some money towards clean water projects across the islands. Indeed Fiji Water would make the case that if you really care about the plight of Fijians you should buy Fiji water as it provides jobs and income for the islands. But tell people here on the street that we buy bottled water from Fiji and most will still roll their eyes and ask: 'Why?' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/7247130.stm | ||||||
Selling air????
American bottled water company 'Ogo' are not only selling a basic human right, in bottled water, but have now hit an amazing low selling flavoured Oxygen??? Creating not only a human must, but creating a 'designer' product that you need to live anyway, as there is always going to be oxygen around you or you'll die.
"OGO Oxygen
We have developed a range of oxygen pods® in four refreshing flavours. Each Oxygen Pod® contains more than six litres of premium quality oxygen.
OGO Oxygen helps you stay alert and focussed and restores the oxygen your body needs. A puff of OGO Oxygen in the morning awakens the senses. During the day each new inhalation boosts energy levels, revitalising your concentration, reflexes and memory. In sport, oxygen accelerates recovery from physical exercise.
Flavours
The four flavours are packaged in a striking and highly distinctive
contemporary aluminium container.
| Peppermint | - | Supercool |
| Yuzu lemon | - | Juicy and Fresh |
| Eucalyptus | - | Hits your veins with an instant boost |
| Flower Power (New) | - | A refreshing floral blend with fruit notes" |
Cloud Juice (Rain water)
ain Water - Still | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Cloud Juice Description:
Cloud Juice Analysis:
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Still
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Editing begins
After many weeks of project change and uncertainty, editing of our project has finally began. Over the next few days we will begin to log, capture and sort out all of the footage shot so we can arrange them in an order good enough to create the impact we intend.
The last footage we recorded was of a taste test held in the atrium. For this, two containers were filled with water, one coming from the tap and the other from Buxton mineral. We then challenged people on screen to try and tell us which was which and noted the results accordingly. There were some interesting outcomes.
Monday, 30 November 2009
Proof is in the pudding! A watery pudding that is...
AFTER a year of historic price highs, raw oil now costs less than bottled water.
Australians have cut back their petrol consumption by 6000 barrels a month, pushing prices down to their lowest since early 2004.
World oil was trading at $US43 ($65) a barrel during last week, now closing in on its long-term average range of $US25 to $US35 a barrel, adjusted to inflation, not seen in almost half a decade.
With 158 litres to a barrel of oil, the raw product has dropped below the price of the cheapest bottled water - a 12-litre bottle of Northbrook water retailing for $4.99 at Aldi - 41cents compared to 42 cents a litre.
Figures from the International Energy Agency show that demand for petrol products in Australia has been falling since January, as high interest rates and high living costs began to take their effect.
The most recent figures for October, show demand has fallen to about 327,000 barrels a month, down from 333,000 barrels in January.
CSIRO modelling estimated that if oil prices were sustained at $US100 a barrel it would have restricted economic growth by 3 per cent - knocking Australia firmly into recession territory - relative to prices at $US35 a barrel.
The fall in consumption has been a short-term boon for the environment but it has come at the expense of the fledgling biofuels industry.
Paul Graham, a senior adviser in the CSIRO's Energy Futures project, estimated that the sharp price rises resulted in a de facto carbon price of upwards of $200 a tonne, much larger than the $23 to $32 range that Treasury has predicted for the introduction of trading in mid-2010.
"All the movements in the oil prices are much larger than the future carbon price," he said. "When you see a rise of upwards of 50 per cent [in petrol prices], that is obviously quite substantial. We know that kilometres travelled did flatten out as that began to take effect."
The CSIRO has predicted that pure unleaded petrol products by 2030 will be almost entirely replaced with ethanol blends and diesel vehicles that can achieve greater fuel efficiencies.
But Mr Graham said that move will be delayed - at least in the short-term - as oil prices continue to fall.
"Certainly expectations of future prices play a big role and there's a big dip since the financial crisis has unfolded," he said. "But a lot of these [forecasts] are long-term and business, too, will take a long view.
"At the moment, the risk for major investment in alternative fuel products is very high so low prices would tend to delay those investments while there is volatility."
Bruce Harrison, chief executive of Biofuels Association of Australia, said the price falls have put a huge strain on refining margins just as the industry attempts to boost production by more than 20 per cent to 245million litres a year.
"Certainly the fall in oil prices makes it harder for every one in the industry. Everyone's margins are down," he said. "Our view is that the world economy starts to pick up, demand will pick up."
But experts have warned that the price falls may be short lived. The US Energy Information Administration predicted prices to stabilise at around $US63 throughout 2009.
london bottle water ban? october 2009
The following correction was printed in the Observer's For the record column, Sunday October 11 2009
In the article below an editing error led to our claiming that 400,000 people pass annually through Hammersmith bus station and the Tower Bridge museum, where new Hydrachill water fountains are to be trialled. That should be 4 million and 400,000 respectively.
London may soon follow in the footsteps of Bundanoon, the Australian town that last week banned bottled water and set up drinking fountains for thirsty locals.
The capital's first water stations will be set up this month in a move that could have serious repercussions for the £1.5bn-a-year bottled water industry, with companies finding it increasingly difficult to justify their carbon footprint as the quality of tap water improves.
Thames Water, Britain's largest privatised water company, with 13.6 million customers, has had talks with the Greater London Authority and Transport for London to install water machines in the capital. In the first trial, Hydrachills will be installed at Hammersmith bus station and at the Tower Bridge museum. The machines can fill bottles of up to 500ml with chilled water for a 20p charge. All proceeds will be donated to WasteWatch, a charity working to change the way people use natural resources.
Should London's water stations prove a hit with the 400,000 visitors who annually pass through the two sites, the scheme will be extended to underground, bus and railway stations across London and the south-east before the 2012 Olympics.
The move follows the installation last week of Hyde Park's first drinking fountain in 30 years. The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, was criticised for reneging on promises to install water fountains in the capital's parks, with Hyde Park his solitary success.
In his draft water strategy for London, Johnson says British tap water is "among the best in the world", but that misconceptions over its perceived healthiness encouraged people to buy bottled water. Tap water is a thousand times cheaper than bottled, which is more expensive per litre than petrol, he says. But Thames Water has been left to take up the mayor's pledge of more drinking stations, in a move that has upset bottled-water firms, which are fast losing the PR battle.
Activists say bottling water causes unnecessary use of plastics and fuel for transport and requires 2,000 times the energy required to produce tap water.
Hildon, regarded by many as the most exclusive bottled water, last week launched its second aggressive advertising campaign. In magazine adverts, fitness instructor Jonathan Goodair claimed tap water was only good enough to shower in and for "washing my kit". He claimed it left an "unpleasant taste".
In the summer, the company took out a 20-page trade magazine advertisement attacking tap water. Under the headline "Is it safe?" it said: "Cancer drugs found in tap water", adding : "Is there anything else they are not telling us?"
Water companies ignored the attacks, preferring to concentrate on promoting their own benefits. The Drinking Water Inspectorate's latest water quality report said Thames Water's tap water was 99.99% compliant with national and European standards – its best-ever performance. Average compliance across the industry remained at 99.96%.
Consumption of bottled water doubled in the 10 years to 2006, but since then sales have fallen. At the end of March, sales were down 12% on the year, according to researchers. Of 13 billion plastic bottles of all types sold in the UK last year, only a third were recycled.
Peter Antolik, of Thames Water, said: "Where once people may have felt obliged to order mineral water when out for a meal or a drink, they are now at ease asking for tap water. We're building on this achievement by trialling Hydrachill water stations, which we hope will soon be commonplace for carbon-conscious Londoners wanting to stay refreshed as well as cut down on cost and waste."
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