Why save water?

Water is becoming scarcer around the world. Hot summers, limited winter rainfall, dried-up rivers and hosepipe bans. It doesn’t take much for water to become an expensive commodity. Add to that the energy required to pump water around the country and already millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide are being released for a product which is considered ‘pure’.

Water is an expensive resource. Not only are you paying for it to be chemically treated and brought to your business, you are also paying for sewage costs to take it away again. This article will help you identify areas where you can reduce your water usage and ultimately your water bills. By installing water saving technology at work and advertising this to your customers, you will gain a good green and socially responsible reputation.

Technology that can help you save water

There is plenty of affordable technology on the market which can help you to reduce your company’s water use. This article will look at the different technologies available for each area that uses water.

• Urinals – urinals are often programmed to flush 24 hours a day at regular intervals, even when nobody has used them. It can be beneficial to install presence detectors to flush when someone is using the urinal. A saving of over £3,800/year in water and sewerage costs can be achieved by installing passive infrared (PIR) sensors at a cost of about £350 and with a payback period of 5 weeks (Envirowise, 2010). You can also get waterless urinals which don’t require water at all. Urinals would just require a special valve fitted so that urine can pass through but smells can’t travel back up!
• Flush toilets – if you can afford to do so, it is worth replacing old six (or more) litre cisterns for newer water efficient models. If this is not financially possible, you can invest in Hippo bags which take up room in the cistern, so that less water can fill it after each flush. An Interflush can be installed so that letting go of the flush will stop the flush.
• Taps – consider installing short burst push taps so that water is not left running. Spray taps also use less water by applying pressure to smaller amounts of water. Spray taps can reduce water use by 60 – 70% compared with conventional taps (Envirowise, 2010). Aerated taps and flow regulators also minimise water use.
• Leaks – make sure that leaks are found and stopped. A 5mm drip from a single tap can cost more than £900/year in water and wastewater treatment costs (Envirowise, 2010).
• If your business uses significant amounts of water in processing, you can reduce water usage by creating a closed system. This means that water is recycled and water bills are significantly lower.
• Does your business have gardens that need watering? A garden sprinkler uses just over 1000 litres an hour (Easy Eco Auditing, McCarthy, 2008). Therefore, it is worth considering installing water butts around the site to collect rainwater for watering plants.
• Rain harvesting – this can substitute more than 50% of your current mains water usage (Good Green Guide for Small Businesses, Impetus Consulting, 2008). It is worth considering rain harvesting to supply water for flushing toilets, especially if you have plenty of roof space. Average rainfall on a UK roof is 35,000 litres a year (Easy Eco Auditing, McCarthy, 2008) which is a considerable amount of water to save on your water bill.

Further help

The Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA) scheme gives a 100 per cent first-year allowance for investments in certain water efficient plant and machinery (www.eca-water.gov.uk). See what water efficient technologies are eligible here.

UK Rainwater Harvesting Association offers advice on rainwater harvesting (www.ukrha.org).

Waterwise (www.waterwise.org.uk) are the leading authority on water efficiency in the UK.

Envirowise is a government initiative that offers free, independent support to your organisation helping you to become more resource efficient and save money. This link will take you to their water saving section: http://www.envirowise.gov.uk/uk/Topics-and-Issues/Water/Why-and-how-to-reduce-your-water-use.html

The Federation House Commitment (FHC) aims to help reduce overall water usage across the Food and Drink industry by 20% by the year 2020 (www.fhc2020.co.uk).

Environment Agency has advice for saving water in business and industry (www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/water/38947.aspx