COLOUR CODING OF PIPING SYSTEM

Type of Pipe Use of pipe Colour of pipe

Water Lines: Raw Water Olive Green
Settled or clarifiedwaterAqua
Finished or potablewaterDark blue
Non-potable water Blue
Water with heating digesters or buildings Blue with a 6 in. (150mm) red band space
30in. (760 mm) apart

Type of Pipe Use of pipe Colour of pipe

Chemical Lines: Alum or primary coagulant Orange
Ammonia White
Carbon Slurry Black
Caustic Yellow with green band
Chlorine gas solution Yellow
Fluoride Light blue with red bandLime slurry Light greenOzone Yellow with orange
band
Polymers or coagulant aids Orange with green band
Potassium per-magnate Violet
Soda Ash Light green with red band
Sulfuric Acid Yellow with red band
Sulfur dioxide Light green with yellowband

Type of Pipe
Use of pipe Colour of pipe
Waste Lines: Backwash Waste Light Brown
Sludge Dark BrownSewer (Sanitary or other) Dark grey
Sludge Lines: Raw Sludge Brown wid black bandsSludge recirculation
orsuctionBrown wid yellow bandsSludge draw off Brown wid Orange bandsSludge

recirculationdischargeBrownGas Lines: Sludge Lines Orange (or red)Natural gas

Orange (or red) with BlackbandsOther Lines: Compressed air Green

Theyellowbackgroundsignifiesthatthepipingmayhandlehazardousmaterial.Unfortunat
ely,muchhaschangedinthetypicalplantoverthelast70yearssincethisstandardwasorigin
allyconceived.Thebasicstandardcanbetracedtothe1920'sanduseintheUSmilitary.Obvi
ously,ourdefinitionsforwhatis"hazardous"haschanged.Water,airorcarbondioxide,unde
rcertainsituations(pressure,heat,mixturewithotherchemicals)arenotalwaysbenign.
ANSI Colour Codes

How do we interpret, for example, materials thatshould be used for "fire quenching"
that arealso "hazardous"?Should we use the red or the yellow ANSIscheme?Or, how
do we label a pipe that carries both theliquid (which should be green) and gas form

of a chemical (which should be blue)