Water stories at the Palais des Nations
Emmanuelle GANTET, UNOG
Everyone knows the plumbing profession. Who hasn’t had problems with water pipes, leaks or clogged toilets? At the Palais des Nations, these types of problem are dealt with by Jean-François Mermoud, Jacques Fontbonne and Thierry Laville. Few of us know them. But these shadowy men who work in the basement and underground passages of the Palais des Nations are indispensable. Apart from their plumbing jobs, they are on duty at week-ends and national holidays, – as are their colleagues in the mechanics sub-unit – during which they do inspection rounds in all the buildings to detect malfunctions and defective technical installations. This preventive approach is in line with the work methods of the Buildings and Engineering Section.
Better water quality and sanitary
installations
Jacques Fontbonne and Thierry Laville
are in charge of water network maintenance
in the Palais des Nations. They supervise
mainly the good functioning of the three
water inflows from the Pregny, Chemin de
fer and Nations Gates, the entire sanitary
network, the kilometres of columns of water,
the horizontal pipes called «trénasses», as
well as the outside sprinkling system, all fed
by some 250 water points and more than
500 faucets.
For better water quality, the E-building water
supply sources, called «nourrices» (water tank
with manifold), and the 12 water supply
columns to which they are connected
were all replaced in 2004.
A water treatment installation
has also been set up in
E-building.
Replacement of the sanitary
columns and units
from K-building (Safi) to
E-building started in 2005.
It includes replacing the original galvanized
pipes (material that rusts) with
stainless steel pipes, as well as installing
new equipment. Apart from the technical
advantages of a new sanitary installation,
the suspended toilets and urinals
equipped with electronic detection will
give users less noisy, more modern, and
more hygienic equipment. In 2006, the
4 columns of the S-building, i.e. 11 sanitary
units, will be changed. The projectwill be carried out over four months with
the support of outside companies, and
represents a budget of $750,000, of which
$478,000 for plumbing alone. This renovation
of the columns and sanitary units
covers about 50 columns in E-building
and 57 in the old building.
Emergency work
The 450 washbowls and the even greater number
of toilets in the Palais des Nations all represent
potential water leaks. Immediately a problem is
detected, the technical control centre of the Palais
des Nations, which centralises calls for urgent technical interventions, contacts Jean-François
Mermoud, who always acts as soon as possible.
His office, accessible by the A-building
basement through a labyrinth – for the neophyte
such as me – of technical installations,
opens onto the mechanic’s Sub-unit
storeroom. Since 2003 with the help of a
database, Jean-François Mermoud also
manages the supplies stock for mechanical
jobs, for which the annual orders represents
about 100’000 Swiss francs, 20% of which is
just for toilets and faucets.
A 40% decrease in water
consumption within 5 years
The maintenance programmes
for sanitary installations
are set up in cooperation
with the chief of
the mechanic’s Sub-unit,
Claude Vinat. Their aim
is to reduce water consumption
in the Palais des
Nations. Did you know
that a dripping tap can
waste up to 80 litres of
water per day? An inspection
of all the faucet heads
and toilet water-tank joints was carried
out in all the buildings between 2000
and 2005. Monitoring and improvement
of the technical installations – such as
repairs to the main pipes buried in the
park, or changing the cold water units
in 2002, major consumers of water and
electricity, or in 2004-2005 equipping
all the Palais des Nations urinals with
a push-button system as opposed to a
constant water flow – have led to a
decrease in water consumption from
306,000 m3 in 2000 to 175,000 m3
in 2005, i.e. about 40%.
However, daily actions are equally
important. The quicker a leak is repaired,
the less water is wasted. The rapid intervention
of the Buildings and Engineering
Section also depends on the information
that the Engineering Unit receives. For all
sanitary or plumbing problems, don’t hesitate
to dial the central internal number
72548.
© 2006 UN Special |