Water: savings tips
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Water: savings tips
You have used NABERS Water to measure your water efficiency.
This section will give you hints and tips to save water in your premises, and
improve your rating. See the Resources section for case studies, links and
other documents that you can use to build your case for water savings.
Quick Water Saving Tips for Office Buildings
Establish a water management strategy for your organisation
Benchmark your performance using NABERS to determine the current efficiency
of your building. Set a target NABERS rating goal, and obtain professional
advice through a water audit to achieve it. Commit to ongoing measurement and
publication of your efficiency using NABERS.
As part of your water management strategy, establish a routine maintenance
and inspection program that follows up on any efficiency projects, and regularly
checks for leaks.
Rectify leaks
Leaks can make up to 30% of the water usage of an office building. You
should undertake a thorough maintenance check for leaks before undertaking any
other efficiency measures. Establish a regular routine of checking for leaks,
and rectify promptly. Additionally, consider making leak reporting the
responsibility of cleaners and maintenance contractors.
Cooling towers
Cooling towers use a lot of water – up to 40% of your building’s water
use. There are many simple steps that you can take to reduce this consumption.
Again, checking for leaks and irregularities should be your first step. A well
maintained tower will lose most water through evaporation and not through wasted
drift or splash.
Sydney
Water has issued
best
practice guidelines
for cooling towers in commercial buildings (pdf, 1.2MB). This document will
help you identify problems with your towers, and implement better management
strategies.
Amenities
Amenities are the other major source of water consumption in an office
building, making up 30 to 40% of water use. Undertake regular maintenance of
your amenities, in particular checking valves, flush mechanisms, seals and
taps.
Many cost effective initiatives will be available to building owners to
improve the water use in these facilities. Installing water efficient devices
is a great way to save water, and will always be cost effective for new
buildings and refurbishments. Most amenities are now covered by the
Water Efficiency
Labelling Scheme (WELS) which makes it easier to identify the efficiency of
each device. Consider waterless urinals as both a retrofit opportunity and when
undertaking refurbishments.
If it is not feasible to replace existing fittings, a range of
efficiency measures will still be possible. Consider replacing toilet cisterns
or installing cistern displacement devices to reduce the water consumed in each
flush. On taps, install flow aerators and throttle control valves to reduce
flow rates. Contact a water auditor or your local water utility for more
information and advice.
Water recycling and reuse
An immediate opportunity in many office buildings will be to collect and
reuse water from your fire systems after testing. This high quality water will
usually go to the storm water drain; but if you capture it you can reuse it for
your fire systems or cooling tower makeup water. Further opportunities exist to
collect and use rain water, storm water, and grey water from your office
building. Contact a water auditor or your local water utility for more
information and advice.