Expert: Roger Zona - 1/6/2010

Question
hi there. im an architecture student from malaysia. currently im designing high rise hospital. The floor area is 83080sqm, 20 storeys height, and the fixture for the building are the hospitals fittings, machine, rooms, such as hemodialysis room, surgical room,etc. And there will be a fire system,such as wet riser and sprinkler. if you do not have the answer for this question, you can help me by explaining any water supply system and also the sewage/drainage system for high rise. For your information, tis is just for academic purpose only, kind like an assignment,not a real project. i just want to know the water supply system that can be applied to my studio project. it would be very helpful if you can help me by describing some common system that usually used in high rise building. thanks a lot.
Regards.  

Answer
Hello Afif,
I'm not sure I entirely understand your question but I will attempt to explain a hi-rise water system as I have experienced it.

The tallest building I have personally built was 16 stories.  The water was supplied by the city where the structure was build.  A mechanical engineer designed the entire system (water and waste water as well as fire protection) using established standards such as number of fixtures, number of occupants, square footage of each area, etc.  As you can imagine, a great amount of water is supplied to meet all the needs of the building use and occupancy.  

A building divided into offices generally has central toilet areas on each floor and the water demand is much lower than an apartment building or commercial building such as a hospital.  The hospital requires water to bathrooms, toilets, surgeries, laboratories, kitchen and laundry, which is a much higher demand and use than other types of buildings.  An apartment building requires systems similar to single family homes and generally does not have any unusual requirements other than a swimming pool and perhaps a community kitchen.  A hotel is similar to an apartment building except there are more toilets and baths, a swimming pool and usually a commercial kitchen.  

Frequently a "booster pump" is required to maintain water pressure throughout a building.  This is particularly true if the building has a fire protection sprinkler system.  However, an auxiliary electric source must be available (stand-by power generator) to provide electrical power for the pumps.  All American hi-rise buildings have an exterior water connection which allows a fire department pump truck to connect to the internal system and provide water to the sprinklers.

A sanitary sewer system is designed to accommodate the usage - number of sinks, tubs, showers, toilets, bidets, and people using the fixtures.  It is important that the pipe sizes are adequate to carry the waste into the local sewer collection system or into a self contained septic system.

I hope this has been helpful

Roger
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