Getting started with water efficiency
14 August 2019 Reading time: 4 mins
As a business we are passionate about water efficiency and committed to doing everything we can to help our customers use water wisely.
This not only helps to reduce water and energy bills but also has a much needed positive impact on the environment. There is no doubt that water is a precious resource that we need to protect and it’s quite unnerving to hear the Environment Agency’s recent assessment that unless we take action now then we won’t have enough water in the UK within 20-25 years to sustain our needs.
By taking small, simple steps businesses can make a significant difference to the amount of water they use - and reap the benefits. Here are my top tips to help a business get started:
1. Understand your water usage
The first and most important step is to understand your water usage. By knowing how much water you use then it will be easier to identify ways to use less. If you’re interested in knowing how your business compares to other companies of a similar size and nature then you can use our benchmarking tool to find out more.
2. Install an AMR
If you haven’t already, then you can install an Automated Meter Reader (AMR) to track the amount of water you’re using. The data is collected every 15 minutes and then transferred to a central system, which allows you to monitor your water use at a glance. Bills are then based on near real-time consumption, rather than estimated meter reads, and it helps to identify any leaks, as any increases or irregularities will be immediately apparent.
3. Check for hidden leaks
Hidden leaks could be costing your business money. The simplest way to check for a leak is to turn off all of your appliances and taps and then look at your meter. If your meter is moving, you may have a leak. If that is the case then get in touch and we will be able to help.
4. Ensure your toilets are in good working order
Make sure that your cisterns are maintained and working properly, as this is often where a lot of water is wasted. You can fit water-saving hippos into your toilet cisterns to help reduce the amount of water used and these are available in our free water efficiency packs.
5. Raise awareness of the importance of water efficiency
Raise awareness of how important it is to save water and support your staff to use less. Even reminding them of simple steps such as ensuring all taps are turned off when not in use can make a big difference - if a tap drips once a second, it only takes four and a half hours to waste a gallon of water!
These steps can be adopted by almost all businesses, small and large, to help reduce water use. Over the coming weeks we are going to spotlight individual sectors in our blog series, including schools, hospitals, farms and restaurants, to highlight the specific water efficiency measures that can make a big difference – so watch this space!
In the meantime, if you have any questions around water efficiency then please get in touch at TheWaterExperts@Business-Stream.co.uk or for further details visit our water efficiency page.
We’re fully committed to improving our environmental performance and are certified to ISO 14001:2015. You can find out more in our environmental policy.
