TABLE OF CONTENTS The subject of fire protection water supplies involves many issues that go beyond the scope of the P.E. exam. For example, detailed studies of the reliability of municipal water systems, thermodynamic calculations for heating water tanks during freezing weather or judging the quality of a well for fire protection use are all beyond the scope of a P.E. exam problem, though they are well within the practice of fire protection engineering. Some information on these topics may be found in NFPA 22.
Key concepts of water supplies addressed in this chapter include:
General categories of water supplies and their characteristics
How the issues of reliability and economics affect the choice of water supplies
Sizing water supplies for unsprinklered or partially sprinklered buildings. (Sizing water supplies for fully sprinklered buildings is addressed in Division 2 of this manual.)
Testing water supplies and distribution systems
References required for this chapter are:
NFPA Fire Protection Handbook
NFPA 13, 22
Water supplies are classified as public or private, depending on who controls the water source and distribution piping. According to NFPA 24, the public supply includes both the source of the water (e.g., public reservoir) as well as the transmission and distribution systems that bring the water to the owner's property. A private water supply, in contrast, includes only the actual source of water (for instance, a well, storage tank or pond). which is addressed in NFPA 22. Privately owned distribution systems are addressed separately...
