Fire crews in Auckland are set to save three million litres of water for each firefighter that goes through training, thanks to an invention inspired by Auckland's drought.
A new set up recycles the water used during pump practice, one of the most important aspects of training.
Around 40 firefighters prepare for the course on an annual basis, adding up to around 120 million litres that'd usually go down the drain.
That's enough to fight 2019's SkyCity convention centre fire more than four times over.
Fire and Emergency group manager Chris Delfos started planning the concept after Watercare approached FENZ about restricting its water use during the 2020-21 drought.
"It's a bit like the All Blacks not scrummaging, if you don’t scrummage you don't win the games. If we don't train with water and pumps, we're not going to win when we go to an incident."
He approached an engineer for help and began brainstrorming.
"We scribbled a few notes on some paper... and we came up with a prototype," he said.
"We suck water out of [a modified skip bin], pump that into the fire appliance as a simulated hydrant supply, then the crews do their pump training and fire it back into the skip to recycle."
Watercare chief customer officer Amanda Singleton says she's delighted to see the units now in action.
"The three million litres per firefighter trained saved is equivalent to 17,000 households per day, that's huge," she said.
“Water is a precious resource, and it is important for us to continue looking for opportunities to save every drop we can. At the same time, we recognise our firefighters need water to train."
There are five units in Auckland, funded by Watercare.
Delfos says a sixth unit, the prototype, will be sent to Whangārei.
"I think it will take off around the country. I think in most cities, water is an issue, and New Zealanders are learning to cherish the water supplies they have."
"[Fire and Emergency] are so dependant on water to keep our city safe, and yet they didn’t just take it for granted, they thought it was important enough to come up with ways and I hope that's inspiring others to do the same,” Singleton said,
“We are already looking at a firefighting simulator that uses virtual reality to provide realistic training scenarios without the use of any water. This will be piloted in 2022.”
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