The OWN/Hung management controller is called WiWo, which stands for ‘water in – water out’. It comprises an integrated control module that monitors water availability and selects the most appropriate water source. The system is adaptable to suit a variety of applications and WiWos are currently being used to manage domestic and commercial toilet blocks, irrigate playing fields in schools and manage the water supply to a variety of commercial applications such as wash-down services and air-conditioning cooling towers.
Only 2% of the world’s fresh water is readily available and needs to be piped in from rivers and dams, while billions of litres of rainwater are simply washed down the drain unused. By harvesting this vast amount of stormwater we can significantly reduce the demand for piped potable water and ease the burden on metropolitan water storage and delivery systems, Hung Pump claims. Harvested stormwater can be used for a variety of domestic and industrial applications from toilet cisterns and laundry use to cooling towers and commercial wash down facilities. The value of stormwater harvesting has been recognised in a number of countries and is gaining rapid acceptance in Australia where water shortages have been a fact of life for many years and water preservation is a high priority.
Once WiWo has harvested the rainwater, it can to be utilised in a broad range of applications including: automatic replacement of town water for toilet and laundry applications; backup to town water when alternative supplies are depleted; management of multiple water sources such as tank, bore, dam, or river water for irrigation systems in rural and domestic applications. Domestic rainwater harvesting systems can also reduce a household’s drinking water consumption by as much as 50%. In situations where mains water is not available or unreliable, WiWo can segment stored water and prioritise its use by limiting the amount available to low level applications. This is especially useful in remote farming communities that only have harvested rainwater to call on.
In one example, a small playing field or municipal park irrigation system comprises 50kL to 100kL of water storage coupled with a Hung MT-42 pump and a WiWo controller interfaced to an automatic irrigation controller. This type of system could provide potable water savings in excess of 500,000 litres per annum with planned expansion taking this figure up to 750,000 litres.
