Many of us know what a water audit is. In simplest terms, it involves finding everywhere that water is being used in a facility. However, what is not always discussed is what we do with the results once an audit is conducted.
For instance, a high-rise condominium conducted a water audit. As is happening throughout the country, their water and sewer bills have been skyrocketing and they were looking for ways to reduce these costs.
Further, if water bills are going up, this can cause monthly assessments to go up and this applies to hot water as well. If hot water is not being used efficiently, it means the association's utility bill may be impacted, further increasing assessments.
To conduct the water audit, engineers went into each apartment unit, counted how many faucets, toilets, showers, bathtubs, and other water-using fixtures were installed throughout the entire building. One of the first things they discovered was that the number of fixtures installed in the building did not correlate with the original architectural plans for the building back in 1960.
Over the years, with renovations, many more bathrooms had been added. Now they knew precisely how many fixtures were installed. The water audit also uncovered the following:
Many fixtures were older, possibly installed when the building was new sixty years ago. This is important information because older fixtures are not water efficient, contributing to the high water bills.
They found leaks galore. Many were uncovered that tenants had no idea existed. Repairing these would make a big dent in water consumption.
Some of the bathrooms and kitchens had DIY (do it yourself) fixture installations. This raised alarm bells because many DIY installations are not up to code, often not installed correctly, or are prone to leakage.
Many of the fixtures, both new and old, were not working properly. This could also contribute to the escalating water and sewer bills.
With this and other information collected, the complex now had a good idea of where water was being used, wasted, the types of fixtures installed, and the age of the fixtures. They also now had a benchmark they could use to track their future progress in reducing water consumption and related costs.
Armed with this information, the condo association took the following steps:
· Building engineers were brought in to fix leaks.
· Because there were so many old fixtures in the building, including many original fixtures, the association gave unit owners 18 months to replace those fixtures with new, water-efficient fixtures.
· Individual water metering systems were installed. Before, none of the tenants knew how much water they were using. Now, they would know.
· Taking this a step further, water consumption in each unit was compared to consumption in comparable units. The belief was that aware of this comparison, tenants would reduce water consumption.
· Finally, the association wanted all tenants to know how much water the entire building was using and what it was costing.
The ultimate result of the water audit was that over a two-year period, water consumption was reduced by over 15 percent. This reduction in water consumption helped lower water bills, lower utility bills, and kept monthly assessments from going up.
Further, the tenants felt a camaraderie. They were all proud to have helped make this happen.
For more information on how to reduce water consumption, waterless urinals, and to use water more efficiently, contact a Waterless Co Specialist
