With the Met Office forecasting that the current warm weather is due to continue this week, here are some tips for businesses to make sure they are using water wisely:
- Check for any leaks inside premises and get them repaired quickly
- Water grounds with harvested water where necessary. Do not water grassed areas – they will recover when it rains
- Only carry out maintenance that requires water when absolutely necessary. Window cleaning on your offices/shop can be delayed, for example
- Delay cleaning of company cars if the heatwave continues
- When doing the washing up in workplace kitchen areas, make sure that a bowl is provided so that taps aren’t left running while the dishes are done
Water efficiency means lower bills – and it benefits the environment too so don’t forget to keep it up when temperatures fall as small behavioural changes can make a big difference. Here are our top tips for longer-term changes that will save your business money and resources:
- A motivated and engaged workforce makes all the difference in changing habits. Use signs or posters to promote a water efficient culture. Make sure that water features in any resource efficiency initiatives already under way in the workplace.
- All equipment that uses water should have a maintenance regime, including a method of identifying leaks. Over time, even a minor leak will result in huge amounts of water being wasted. For example, a continually leaking toilet cistern could result in a loss of 88m3 of water a year, equivalent to around £100. The cause of this sort of leak is usually something like a worn washer which is quick and easy to fix.
- Make sure appliances are energy efficient models so that they use less water.
- Some bathrooms may still have turn or lever style taps which can easily be left running if not returned to the off position. If it’s the hot water tap that is left on this wastage will be considerably more because of the energy that has been used to heat the water. An alternative could be a push button tap which delivers a certain amount of water before shutting off.
- Sites that have shower facilities can also have significant wastage. Possible solutions to this include push button showers which shut off after a certain amount of time or showers that use infrared sensors to detect the presence of a user and automatically shut off when no one is there.
- Lush green lawns look beautiful but they can require hundreds of gallons of water a day. Consider planting native landscapes or other less water-intensive alternatives. Also consider installing a rain-harvesting system to collect water on site for landscape irrigation or using a sensored irrigation system to better control exterior water use and to make sure that mains water isn’t wasted in this way.
- A water cooler will give employees direct access to cold water rather than having to run a tap until the water is chilled to fill bottles or glasses
For more advice on water efficiency give us a call on 0330 041 5566 to find out how we can help your business to use water wisely – and save money on bills.
