February 2018

Fresh water resources across the world are coming under growing pressure from population growth, urbanisation, rising per capita water use, and increased industrial activity. The pressures, and the dangers the lack of adequate water poses for people, industry, and ecosystems, are frightening and have already been highlighted in many different studies and reports.

Coming to India, Water scarcity subjects aren’t new. Per capita, water availability less than 1,700 cubic metres is considered water stressed and the present number in India is 1,545 cubic metres. Water resources ministry predicts water availability could plunge to 1,341 cubic metres in 2025 and as low as 1,140 by 2050. This scenario mirrors water-scarcity condition where per-person availability is less than 1,000 cubic metres.

The construction industry is one of the major consumers of water. Sadly, a significant wastage and misuse of water in construction sites have always been identified as a serious problem. This blog aims to discuss few effective strategies to adopt in construction sites to save or efficiently use water, let’s understand them:

Importance Of Saving Water In Construction

Reducing water usage makes perfect business sense; it saves money, can improve the reputation of a business and conserves natural resources. In a report released by DTE (Down to Earth) an organization dealing with Environment protection, the world extracts 145 Cubic Kilometers of water every year. The rate of extraction far supersedes the rate of replenishment. With the impact of Global warming, excessive emissions of Green House Gases, erratic rainfall patterns have led to droughts and drought-like conditions across the world. Building construction industry is one sector which consumes a substantially high amount of water every year. Water consumed in pre-construction stage is generally sourced from ground water leading to further water scarcity, hence saving water is absolutely crucial.

Water Usage And Wastage In Construction

Delivering a resource effective construction project requires consideration of the water impacts both on-site and during use. A precondition to understand how to reduce water usage on construction sites is to first understand clearly where water is used, and where it is being wasted.

Main Water Using Processes On Construction Sites

• Site cabins and temporary accommodation
• General site activities
• Wet trades, like brickwork, concreting, screeding, and plastering
• Hydro-demolition
• Groundworks (grouting and drilling)
• Dust suppression
• Cleaning of tools and plant equipment

Top Activities Where Water Wastage Occurs

The first step to reducing water use on construction sites is to eliminate water wastage.  Below are the activities where the majority of water wastage arises.

• Dust suppression
• Hydro-demolition
• Lorry wash out
• Site and general cleaning
• Specialist and high-pressure cleaning
• Commissioning plant and services

Ways To Conserve Water On Construction Sites

With the severe scarcity of water, carrying out construction processes is next to impossible. As a responsible industry, it’s time to make a commitment to reduce water wastage. Thinking how, here are few tactics.

1. Dust Suppression

In construction and demolition sites, it is very crucial to keep away dust in the workplace. Dust suppressing systems help to suppress dust around dumps and earth roads. Dust suppression approaches range from simple spraying or pouring of water to the use of bowsers (for bigger areas like roads). Use of efficient nozzle technologies is more effective as they create efficient spray patterns which suppress dust by using very less water. Also, the use of wetting additives helps in improving the water efficiency of the bowsers.

2. Washing Out Concrete Wagons

After concrete is poured at a construction sites, the chutes of ready mixed concrete trucks and hoppers of concrete pump trucks needs to be washed out to eradicate the remaining concrete before it hardens. Equipment such as wheelbarrows and hand tools also need to be washed down. Mains pressure hoses with simple spray patterns are water incompetent. Use of high-pressure low volume efficient spray pattern helps largely in reducing water usage. An expressly designed sock to cover the chute also helps to reduce water use and spills. Another useful tip is to reuse the wash out water at the concrete batching plants.

3. Water Usage During Commissioning

For good hygiene, treatment of wastewater is an essential facet; appropriate and meticulous commissioning, testing, and inspection is essence to effective functioning. During building envelope and services commissioning and testing, high volumes of water are used. These activities should be carefully planned after considering the water recirculating and minimization factors.

4. Wheel Washing

A wheel washing system is a system for cleaning the tires of trucks when they are leaving a site, to control and eliminate the pollution of public roads. Few drive through wheel washers do not have the option of recycling water. A closed loop wheel wash could help as it would allow further use of water. Waterless systems are another advanced scheme which use angled steel grids to clean debris from the tyres.

5. Fit Trigger Guns To Hoses

Hoses left running when not in use are responsible for the large volume of water wastage. Robust trigger guns when fitted to the hoses helps in controlling the water flow to the exact point of use.

6. Unfixed Leak

An unfixed leak can contribute significantly to water wastage. Leaks can come from damaged washers in the taps, damaged pipework, and worn valves.

7. Porotherm Dryfix.System

Generally, the extreme water use happens during:

• Preparation of sand, cement mortar
• Curing of walls before and after plastering

Taking this into account, Wienerberger product POROTHERM DRYFIX.SYSTEM, is a dry mortar or super glue which removes the need of wet mortar and drastically reduces the requirement of water for any wall construction (infill masonry or partition walls as well as external walls). Few awesome advantages of using this product are:

• Single component: Dryfix Can is ready to use and easy to transport
• Faster as compared to traditional masonry
• Stronger adhesive bond between bricks
• Clean and dry construction site: No debris to be transported and disposed
• Enhances thermal protection through the elimination of thermal bridges in vertical and horizontal joints
• Saves time: Conduiting, chasing and plastering can begin the very next day (after Dryfix wall construction)
• Mason-friendly system: Easy to assemble and easy to apply

Final Thoughts

Water tables in urban areas are rapidly diminishing due to increasing population and expansion of piped drinking water. And it is deteriorating in rural areas due to drying of the lakes and ponds… The need of the hour, is to adopt sustainable building practices in each and every sphere, follow the Water Hierarchy- Eliminate wasted water- Advance efficiency and use alternative sources -Reuse water -Recycle water.

Curated by editor at  Wienerberger India

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