Climate change and water shortages in many countries constitute a powerful force behind the development of new water and energy conservation technologies and products.

Such technologies include integrated systems for monitoring and controlling water use.

In the United States, for example, the Sloan Valve Company has invested heavily in the development of Sloan Monitored Systems (SMS), involving a holistic approach to managing a facility’s plumbing systems, on an individual fixture basis or collectively.

This includes a focus on development of the fully automated and monitored restroom.

To help promote the development of this technology, Sloan became a member of the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA).

Earlier this year CABA started a new research project, the Convergence of Green and Intelligent Buildings, with a variety of industry stakeholders.

The result is an extensive report that outlines the nature and benefits of intelligent and green buildings and includes several case studies, one of which was prepared by Sloan on restroom monitoring systems.

As marketing research manager Rick Nortier points out, population growth in the US has substantially increased the demand for water, to the point that some degree of water scarcity will be experienced in at least 36 States by 2013.

“Commercial properties and institutional establishments are large consumers of water,” Nortier says.

“There are about five million buildings in the US with an estimated daily water consumption rate that exceeds 10 billion gallons (38ML) a day.

“Our SMS approach is designed to help building owners and facility managers increase the overall water efficiency of such buildings by enabling them to monitor and control water usage.

“We see SMS as the next level in building automation, whereby the restroom is added as a fully monitored sub-system in building automation with a variety of monitoring and control functions.

“The system, which incorporates advanced microprocessor technology, allows automated plumbing fixtures such as urinals, water closets and faucets to be networked and monitored.

“This brings a range of benefits, including the scheduling of usage-based maintenance and automatic alarm notification of any problems with the system.”

In addition to sending alerts, the system can be programmed to send a signal to an automated ball valve, installed upstream of the restroom, to turn off the water to that zone.

The second most prevalent complaint in public facilities relates to restrooms – poor cleanliness, no toilet paper, no soap, no paper towels and an overflowing toilet or hand basin.

“SMS can also be used to monitor restroom consumable items,” Nortier says.

“For example, the system will send a signal to alert that a dispenser has provided a set number of dispenses of soap and needs replenishing.

“And in relation to waterless urinals, Sloan is developing modules to monitor the number of times the fixture is used so that the system can notify the building manager that the cartridge needs to be replaced.”

Nortier says effective monitoring involves gathering information on variables including flow rate, fixture use, traffic patterns and occupancy.