Water regulations

[daleyd]

Thats about right, but the root of the issue is the infrastructure isnt up to the job, poorly maintained and under funded, because share holder Divis are more important…..this wont really change regardless of what hoops farmers etc are forced to jump through!

Yes, was just musing on the mechanics/physics of it rather than the politics!!

 

[Gareth J]

Abstraction licences are impossible to get around here. You can have an unlicensed 20m2 a day bore but anything larger is a no.

Our mains supply would struggle to produce 20m^3 a day in summer.

Either way, put up a big tank or a row of them as required, fill with the 20m^3 of b/h and top up with mains. Can be controlled with differing level float switches so it fills preferentially with own supply. So long as there's a hole in the fill tank that's below the inlet level of the mains, you're all good.

There'll be installation costs, pumping costs and filtration maintenance costs, but all that factored in, with a reasonable supply, it should be a no brainer.

 

[JimmyS]

same thing for me at work (pet food)

mains is fed into a giant tank and then pumped out from there, was easier just to have everything fed from the tank than separate off things you're allowed (where no change of back feeding, toilets, kitchen taps etc.)

there's so many other ways the same thing could be accomplished.... but they wouldn't let me do anything else - no one way valves etc..


actually... a washing machine should be fine, because water is fed in at the top into the washing powder tray, so there's no chance of anything getting sucked back up?

years ago when we first had an inspection for it we had a machine washing cows feet (not attached to the cow), they were covered in poo etc.... but the machine washing them was fine because the water feed into it was *just* above the point where water would overflow out of the machine - so no way any could be sucked back up into the feed

You would think a washing machine would be ok but not always commercially. It depends on the airgap (there's a few different types) and the fluid category risk. Had the same carry on in some nursing homes where they sometimes use a sluice washing machine for washing soiled clothes etc and it's the same pain in backside ensuring correct backflow protection. Commercially the water supplies are more often than not boosted with a tank so you get an airgap at the tank for backflow protection and can normally use a smaller main which means a smaller water meter. Look at the annual charges for having a large water meter as well, extortionate for the bigger ones so best avoided if possible. But pumps and tanks add cost and also legionella risk if oversized etc.

 

[knighty]

Our mains supply would struggle to produce 20m^3 a day in summer.

Either way, put up a big tank or a row of them as required, fill with the 20m^3 of b/h and top up with mains. Can be controlled with differing level float switches so it fills preferentially with own supply. So long as there's a hole in the fill tank that's below the inlet level of the mains, you're all good.

There'll be installation costs, pumping costs and filtration maintenance costs, but all that factored in, with a reasonable supply, it should be a no brainer.

if they know you have a bore hole they want you to fit a meter on it, so they can charge you the right amount for sewage (commercially or for me at least they charge for each litre coming in and then again for it going out)

 

[Gareth J]

if they know you have a bore hole they want you to fit a meter on it, so they can charge you the right amount for sewage (commercially or for me at least they charge for each litre coming in and then again for it going out)

Doubt many farms are on mains sewerage??

 

[knighty]

house/canteen/shop etc. could all be on mains sewage

guess it depends how far from the mains they are

 

[Gritineye]

In Hove in the 70s there was a chrome plating shop in amongst the housing by the football ground. In order to stop the workers from getting splashed with acid when filling the tanks they had short hoses on the mains water taps to below the acid surface, been like that for many years.

One day there was a pressure drop and a lot of people got very ill.

It was a big thing and made everyone aware of the problem. After that they banned silencing tubes on domestic ball valves which worked the same way, and were common at the time.

 

[JimmyS]

Hexavalent chromium?