In a recent post, we’ve talked about how businesses can improve their trade processes. Today, we’ll be covering another aspect of running a business that you may not be thinking about often: water. Whether you are using water at the core of your daily operations (like a car wash or a laundry business would, for example) or your business is simply using water for sinks and washroom facilities, there is a lot to gain by improving how you are using water. In this short post, we’ll give you an overview of the benefits and how you can get started.
Why Water Usage is Important
Many businesses look at their utilities and how they can reduce their electricity or gas consumption, but not all consider that water is another important resource that can have a big impact on your business. Even if your business is office-based, consider how often people will use the bathrooms, how often you will fill up the kettle or even water bottles – it all adds up after a day, a week, a month, a year.
Improving your water usage by making it more efficient can allow your business to:
- Save money by reducing water bills
- Be more environmentally friendly as providing clean water requires energy
- Prevent costly repairs by ensuring small repairs are completed where necessary
How to Get Started
Nowadays, most water retailers will offer guidance and resources which can help you assess your current water usage, so you can identify where potential improvements can be made. Some will also offer water efficiency as an integrated part of their services.
If this is not something that your current retailer offers, consider if you should switch business water supplier to one that will be able to perform a full audit as well as help you implement solutions that will be specifically suited to your business.
Make sure that your supplier can offer an overall approach to water efficiency – they should be able to provide you with complimentary services such as:
- Wastewater or trade effluent management
- Water continuity & contingency planning
- Consolidated billing
- Automated meter readings
By having a complete view of your water usage, you will be able to implement better solutions that take into account all aspects of your business.
Auditing your Water Usage
As we’ve mentioned, your water retailer should be able to help you understand your water usage, often in the form of a water audit, so you can plan the next steps. But if you’re looking to start the process yourself, here are a few areas to review and consider:
- Consider if your meter is suited to the size of your operations
- Look into sewer allowance and trade effluent agreements if applicable to you
- Look for any visible leaks on your premises
- Liaise with your contractors (cleaning, boiler, cooling, etc) to discuss water efficiency
- Review the efficiency of your facilities (showers, toilets, taps, etc)
These are only a few examples of the multitudes of actions you can consider in order to improve your water usage. As the demand for clean water keeps increasing over time, businesses have a responsibility to make more conscious choices and pay more attention to how they use all resources, including water, to not only save money but help protect the environment too.
If you’ve enjoyed this post, you can find all our other business posts here.
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