Plumbing Connection 3-2015

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PLUMBING CONNECTION SPRING 2015 53
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
The Drainage Research Group of Heriot-Watt University,
Edinburgh, went to work in 2004 on an innovative system
for mapping and assessing water trap seal vulnerability in
building drainage systems.
The invention then developed in conjunction with
industry and the UK Government, resulting in the ongoing
partnership with Dyteqta. Dyteqta is an off-shoot of the
same team behind Studor –leader in drainage ventilation
technologies. The Dyteqta-System is the result of nearly 10
years of academic work reported in peer reviewed journals
and extensive site testing by academics at Heriot-Watt
University (Edinburgh) and the Dyteqta Team.
Recent research has sought to identify bioaerosol activity
in building drainage systems. Bioaerosols are pathogens
which can be transported through air flows, either as
airborne pathogens or, as in the case of the building drainage
system, virus laden droplets which can be transported in the
air via aerosols. Researchers at Heriot-Watt University, led
by Dr. Michael Gormley, in collaboration with virologists from
the local health board and with support from the Dyteqta
team, conducted a series of tests to investigate the extent
to which a drain is contaminated during a norovirus outbreak
in a hospital building. In addition to searching for pathogens
they also investigated the environmental conditions inside
the drain itself. The techniques used were innovative and
involved DNA coding of pathogens using a polymarese chain
reaction (PCR) technique.
The six-week-long test program drew samples from
the collection drain and sought to identify a particularly
troublesome virus – norovirus which leads to gastro-
intestinal illness, is highly contagious and causes
disruptions to hospital management since an outbreak
leads to ward closures with disruption to patient care and
attendant high costs.
The tests were conducted over a six week period and
the results were striking. The PCR technique identified
the presence of a significant amount of norovirus GII –
strong positives were indicated for the samples from
the drain, indicating that the entire drainage system was
contaminated during an outbreak.
Investigations into the environmental conditions in
the vertical stack revealed that, as expected, the relative
humidity was almost 100% for most of the time,
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