When you install water-conservation measures, you can save money three ways: on your water bill, on your sewer bill (because most of your water eventually goes down the drain), and on your energy bill (because you’re not heating the water you’re not using). Your return on investment, or ROI, for those water-conservation measures gets even better when you factor in the savings on all three bills.
Water Bill Savings: Installing water-saving measures like these and others is a cost-effective and easy way to trim your operating costs and benefit the environment at the same time. Measures that can produce quick paybacks include the following.
- Efficient prerinse spray valves: Prerinsing removes food waste from dishes and pans prior to dishwashing and can account for nearly one-third of the water used in a commercial kitchen. Replacing older spray valves with new efficient valves allows you to do the same job with half the amount of water.
- Faucet aerators: Aerators can help save water and energy in sinks used for flow-based tasks such as washing food, dishes, and hands. Different types of available aerators are appropriate for different applications—for example, sinks used for volume-based tasks such as filling large pots, filling buckets, or doing both.
Sewer Bill Savings: Most businesses are billed per unit for sewer discharges on the basis of how many units of water are metered through their potable water meter. Therefore, saving water at the meter also decreases your sewer costs. For instance, if you were a business paying $8/ccf for water and an additional $3/ccf for sewer, you would be paying a total of $11/ccf for water delivery and wastewater services. If you reduced water use by 1,000 ccf, you’d save $11,000. Not too shabby!
Energy Bill Savings: If you’re using less water, then you’re also using less energy, because you’re not heating water you’re not using. For the water you are using, you can save a lot by upgrading to the appropriate piping design and insulation, because most of your water is heated.
Additionally, investing in technology—such as replacing water-consuming kitchen equipment with new state-of-the-art models—can improve your operational efficiency while reducing both water and energy use. For example, an Energy Star certified commercial dishwasher uses half the water of standard models, and an Energy Star certified commercial ice maker is 20% more water efficient than standard models. California Energy Wise is a quick way to calculate potential savings. For example, if you reduce by just 17 therms and 2,847 gallons of water, you will see a Pre-Rinse Spray Valve Energy savings of 11%.
Although the most obvious financial benefit of reducing your business’s water use is saving money on your utility bills, there are other less apparent—yet equally important—ways that saving water can bring financial benefits to your business. Read more here.
When you install water-conservation measures, you can expect savings on savings on savings.