A new device for saving water at home

It is an adaptable devise for showers and toilets to avoid wasting water in unnecessarily uses. Its creators are Eduardo Alarcón, Camila Beltrán Y David Tumbajoy, under direction of engineers Nelson Arzola, John Jairo Oviedo y Edwin Cárdenas.

"Unlike other systems that already exist in the market, such as plastic bottles or demijohns to place in the toilet"s tank to regulate the amount of water used; small devices that use half of the amount of the liquid; flow reducers and filling valves, our system recycles the water that comes out from the shower, placing it directly in a tank that sends it to the toilet" says Eduardo Alarcón.

To corroborate the advantages of its design, the students measured the water flow that comes out from the shower in three different households. The results showed a consume of 6 liters per minute, it means that in average 30 liters of water are used in a 5 minute shower, same amount that can be used flushing a 5 liter toilet 6 times and a 3 liter toilet 10 times. Consequently, 30 liters per day would be recycled.

The devise consist of four systems. The first one is a water collector that collects the water that comes out from the shower. It is made of one removable collection platform and a filter for solid objects (hair, rings, and pieces of soap).

The second system is in charge transporting the water. It consists of one electric low consuming pump that pumps the liquid from the platform to a collection tank, the third system.

The electric consumption measured for this design is from 20 watts. This represents an approximate increase of 500 Colombian pesos a month in a 4 people household from socio-economic status 3. This percentage is smaller in comparison to the 28.000 pesos saving on the Acueducto bill every two months.

The tank that collects the water has 120 liters of water storing capacity for flushing the toilet, and it is regulated by a different system that is in charge of using the necessarily liquid only.  

Finally, the device has a control system that permits an autonomous functioning. It consists of electrical and mechanical sensors. For instance, in the platform, a sensor detects the minimum level of water in which the pump can start functioning without the risk of malfunctioning.

The water coming out from the shower, or from any other recipient used to shower, falls into the platform, goes through the solids filter and when it reaches the top level, a pump pumps it to the storage tank where it is available for any flushing.

High prices and lack of water are the most common problems population always complains about due to environmental problems such as El Niño event or to indiscriminate waste, so the device proposed by the UN engineers turns out to be a good alternative to stop wasting water.