Lift Pumps for Tower Blocks - Stored Water

Water delivery to High Rise Flats - Remote Storage tanks

Residential Tower Blocks: In order to deliver water to the upper flats of a tower block while at the same time controlling the water pressure in the lower flats it is often necessary to use an underground storage tank.

Underground tanks are supplied from the public water supply but the water is then pumped to smaller storage tanks at various levels within the tower blocks. These smaller tanks supply the individual flats.

Following the delivery of public water into the underground tank there is a risk of contamination and leakage prior to delivery to customers. In at least one case a local authority has registered a tower block as a private supply in order to assure routine water testing from all parts of the block. The local authority has taken this action because water authorities will not take water samples from any flats in a tower block that are not connected directly to the public main.

The water authorities do not take samples from flats not connected directly to the public main because the quality of the final water delivered to the consumer is not under the control of the water authority.

It is suggested that an additional duty of care could be placed on the owners of tower blocks to assure that the final distribution system within the tower block does not degrade water quality.