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Water is a limited resource in Jackson County, and conservation is increasingly becoming a way of life. Reducing water use is important to protect our natural environment, and is necessary given a large demand and scarce supply. The goals of this section are focused on identifying and implementing the best opportunities to maximize the efficiency of water use in your business.
- Learn how to read your water meter.
- Understand your water bill and monitor it monthly for early indications of problems.
- Regularly check for and repair all water leaks in your facility (for example toilet leaks in tank toilets can be detected with leak detecting tablets).
- Maintain and use sprinklers properly:
- Repair all broken or defective sprinkler heads.
- Adjust sprinklers for proper coverage.
- Adjust sprinkler times/duration according to seasons.
- During the hot summer months, only water during non daylight hours.
SMART Notes
A faucet with a slow leak can waste over 10 gallons of water a day. A single leaky toilet can waste as much as 100 gallons of water a day.
Landscape:
- Implement water efficient landscaping techniques:
- Aerate and detach turf every spring or summer.
- Mulch all non turf areas.
- When installing new turf, limit area and use drought tolerant species.
- Install water efficient shrubs or ground cover in place of turf.
- Use drought tolerant (water conserving) plants.
- Install rain shut off devices to override automatic irrigation when adequate moisture is present.
- Limit the number of days lawns are irrigated.
- Install a drip irrigation system for shrubs and plantings, especially in areas that are difficult to irrigate such as narrow planting strips, slopes and where plantings block spray patterns.
- For landscaping on slopes, prevent runoff by scheduling multiple run times for short periods.
- Apply mulch or compost twice a year to lawns and planting beds.
- Use weather information to set irrigation clocks.
Housekeeping:
- Utilize one of the following methods for cleaning spills:
- Use high pressure, low volume cleaning equipment.
- Use a mop and bucket rather than hosing
- Convert to dry clean up methods.
- Use a recycling filtered system such as an electronic powered cleaning machine.
- Sweep pavement instead of using water from a hose.
Hotel/Motel B&B Operations
- Offer guests the option of reusing their linens to reduce water consumption from laundry operations.
Conducting a water balance will help to determine the main water uses in your facility. By identifying where your water is being used most, you can set priorities and choose strategies to help conserve water.
Follow these steps for producing a water balance:
- From your monthly water usage report, take the average of the December, January, and February months usage. This will be your average monthly indoor water use. Multiple by 12 and you will have your estimated annual indoor water use.
- Subtract your estimated annual indoor water use from your total annual water use (sum of all months) to get your estimated annual outdoor water use.
- On a pie chart illustrate the two percentages.
- For your indoor water use, identify how you use your water (restrooms, cooling systems, kitchens, fume scrubbers, water purification, industrial processes, etc.) Estimate their percentages and represent them on your chart.
Below is a typical breakdown of water use at office buildings and commercial establishments:
- Replace toilets with efficient 1.6 gallon per flush toilets.
SMART Notes
Toilets and urinals account for about one-third of all water consumed in US buildings.
- Install toilet-tank fill diverters, which saves about 3/4 gallon of water per flush
- Install aerators in faucets. These simple devices - available in most hardware stores - can cut faucet water consumption in half
- Install low flow showerheads.
- Install self-closing faucets (infrared, spring loaded, etc.).
- Replace or retrofit water-cooled icemakers with air-cooled models.
- Use positive shut-off nozzles on all hoses.
- Collect rainwater for irrigating or other non-potable uses.
- Reuse water in manufacturing and rinsing procedures
- Re-circulate cooling water;
- Eliminate plenum flushes;
- Convert from continuous flow to intermittent flow;
- Improve control of the use of deionized water.
- Examine the number and duration of rinsing cycles to determine if any can be eliminated.
- Install flow meters on manual operated flow process control valves.
- Install a wash and rinse water reclamation system.
- Install timer-controlled shut off or flow reducing devices for process rinse lines that are not in constant use.
- Use spray rinse systems where possible.
Cooling Systems:
- Install flow meters in cooling towers.
- Eliminate once through cooling systems
- Replace existing cooling system with an ozonated cooling system.
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