Top Tips for Improving Your Resource Efficiency - Water

The real cost of water supply and effluent disposal has risen by 40 per cent since 2002. Water costs your business twice – once for provision and again for disposal. Reducing the amount of water your business uses will save money in supply charges and effluent disposal bills and could also help you save on costs for energy for heating or chemicals for water treatment. Below are some simple tips you can take to help you save water.

• A lot of water and money is literally flushed away. For relatively little investment in equipment such as cistern dams, flow restrictors, aerators and trigger action taps or guns for hoses you can make notable savings.
• Do you have leaks or dripping taps, do your taps turn off fully? A dripping tap can waste more than 5,500 litres of water per year.
• Do your washrooms use dual-flush systems? Cistern dams, flow restrictors or percussion taps can all reduce water use.
• Installing taps that are self-closing or with infrared sensors will reduce water use and improve hygiene. Regular maintenance of taps will ensure that soap deposits and scale doesn’t cause leaks or jammed taps. Showers should also be maintained to avoid blockages and reduced performance.
• Installing an aerator, which costs around £5, on a conventional shower that is used twice a day for five minutes, could save around £30 a year in water and sewerage costs.
• When buying new equipment ensure water and energy efficient products are purchased and correctly installed. Many of these products now carry the ‘Water Label’ to help you easily compare the water efficiency of products.
• Is your water pressure too high? A flow rate of 5-6 litres per minute is adequate for hand washing. Tap aerators and flow restrictors are low-cost solutions which can reduce water use by up to 70%.
• If hot water has to travel through long pipes to reach the point of use, a lot of cold water must be run off first. You may be able to find ways to heat the water closer to its point of use.
• WRAP’s Rippleffect support package provides a free advice and support to help businesses save money by using water more efficiently. Visit: www.wrap.org.uk/content/rippleffect-water efficiency-businesses-0
• Understanding how much water you use and what it is costing is key to making improvements. WRAP’s Water Monitoring Tool is available at www.wrap.org.uk/content/water-monitoring-tool-0
• The Mogden Formula Tool can help determine how much you should be paying for effluent: www.wrap.org.uk/content/mogden-formula-tool-0
• Run the dishwasher only when it is full and remember to fill the kettle with the amount of water you need, rather than filling it and heating water you don’t need.
• Water butts, which are simple to fit, can collect water that can be used for plant and outside cleaning and can help you to avoid paying for drinking quality water unnecessarily.
• Pipe leaks can cause damage to your property and be expensive to repair. To help identify leaks and other water losses take meter readings last thing at night and first thing in the morning so you know how much water is being used outside working hours. Remember to check your pipes and contact you water supplier to help locate leaks.