During December 2019 the SABS published SANS 1088 Water efficiency in buildings which will ultimately in one form or another become SANS 10400 –XB when the Minister for Trade & Industry updates the National Building Regulations. We anticipate this will commence during 2020. The standard applies to the following occupancy and building classifications as defined in SANS 10400-A;
- A3 Place of instruction
- E1 Place of detention
- G1 Offices including banks, consulting rooms, etc.
- H1 Hotel
- H2 Dormitory
- H3 Domestic residence
- H4 Dwelling house
- H5 Hospitality
The amount to be harvested is dependent on location with the country having been divided into six districts categorized by mean annual rainfall. In addition to a map Table-3 lists all cities and towns, by province, by mean annual rainfall.
Tables 4a & 4b list the minimum storage capacity required per roof area for each category whereas Table 4c lists the additional requirement for swimming and spa pools. A further requirement is that pools have to be ‘potable water neutral’ i.e. not requiring the use of potable water other than for initial filling, top-up is to be from harvested rainwater plus pools requiring to be backwashed are to be fitted with a holding tank for treating and returning a minimum of 70% of the backwashed water to the pool. External pools to be fitted with a cover.
An important point to note is that in terms of the Water Services raw harvested rainwater is not considered potable and storage reservoirs are to be fitted with a warning sign to that effect.
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