Delta BEC was appointed for the design of wet services at the new Netcare hospital in Polokwane. The facility comprises three levels with 200-beds. The development is a new state-of-the art private hospital which employs the most up to date technology in its treatment and surgical procedures.

Wet services entail the supply of potable water to all sanitary fittings, as well as drainage of soil and waste from sanitary fittings, fire water storage and reticulation systems. Netcare specifically required that the wet services design be economical, feasible and efficient, while still being compliant with the South African National Standards and local municipal by-laws.

New and innovative measures were integrated into the wet services design. A grey water harvesting system was used to achieve higher efficiency levels. Grey water harvesting is employed for flushing toilets and irrigation water to achieve higher efficiency levels. To improve this concept, the system first recovers any latent heat energy from hot waste water (laundry and autoclaves) which is used to preheat the water in large hot water tanks, using a sealed loop system to avoid contamination of the hot water to be used at hand wash basins, showers and baths. This system reduces electricity consumption by not having to heat the water from cold condition to the desired water temperature. Heat pumps are used as an energy efficient supplementary source of heat for preheating the hot water supply.

Initially, the savings resulting from the grey water harvesting and heat recovery systems will pay for the additional capital outset for the system’s construction, whereafter water and energy savings will translate into savings in running cost.