Send a Message
Inform staff, clients and customers about your commitment to save water. Good communication is essential. A few
well-placed "friendly" signs can have a significant impact on indoor water use.
Consider appointing a water steward in your business to facilitate discussions
about "how to save more."
Lower Your Overhead
Depending on the size and nature of your business, your indoor water use can
vary considerably. In addition to toilets and faucets common to all businesses,
you may have specialized commercial equipment that uses a lot of water. To lower your overhead, make water efficiency a priority when selecting new equipment, remodeling or upgrading indoor fixtures and appliances.
- Communicate to suppliers about your commitment to conserve water.
- Make water efficiency a factor when choosing new equipment. Take into
account the cost savings that can accrue over the lifetime of a unit. Look for industry-specific opportunities to save
water.
- Use waterless technologies where
available. This could range from switching to waterless urinals in men's rooms
to using waterless woks in your kitchen to replacing old photo-development or
x-ray equipment with modern digital technologies.
- Eliminate all technology operating with "once-through" (continuous water
flow) systems such as once-through cooling. Reuse and recycle water wherever
possible. Wastewater from some indoor sources can be re-used outdoors for
irrigation.
- Install automatic devices to turn water off when equipment is not in use.
- Restrict water pressure and flow rates where possible (install
pressure-restricting valves and add aerators to existing faucets).
- Consider installing sub-meters on
major water-using units in order to track water use.
Where can I find out more?
