What Can Be Done to Conserve Water in Hotels and Restaurant

You simply can't afford to keep ignoring your hotel water usage – non just for your profit margin, merely also for the environment.

You've got a lot more than just rooms to manage. There's the kitchens, multiple public and in-suite bathroom facilities, pools and hot tubs, laundry, cooling, heating and landscaping. All of these places utilize incredible amounts of water, and if you don't understand how quickly those water usage costs can add together up, so your hotel could be missing out on some serious money. Acquire how to reduce water usage and potentially improve your bottom line in the process.

Wasted water means increased room fees, and then y'all're ultimately losing out on maximizing your hotel profits. Plus, at that place's the ecology ramifications related to wasting all that water.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In the United States lone, hotel and other lodging facilities business relationship for most 15% of all commercial and institutional water usage. That means that your hotel has a major impact on the water usage in your urban center; therefore, the responsibility lies with you lot to brand sure you run and maintain an efficient and environmentally friendly establishment.

These h2o saving tips (among many others) have been proven to save hotels thousands of dollars in h2o related costs alone. For instance, a hotel in San Antonio, Texas upgraded its restroom facilities with high efficiency toilets, showerheads and sink aerators, saving vii million gallons of water and $35,000 in water and sewage bills each twelvemonth. And if that'south not adept enough, they likewise reported fewer maintenance calls from their 397 guest rooms!

The lesser line: If you become as water savvy as possible within your hotel operations, you'll salve and make more than money, help your local customs continue their h2o costs down, and help save the environment. Information technology'southward a win-win situation for everyone!

Where To Begin?

The get-go thing to do if you want to empathise how to lower your water bill is to conduct something chosen a h2o audit. A water audit is a process to effigy out how much water your business concern is using and exactly where it'south all going. Though the all-time way to get accurate results is to rent an energy consulting business firm, this tin can be done in a more general way by yourself and/or your staff. If yous choose to deport your own water audit, you lot should commencement by looking at two things: your previous water bills and your water meter(south).

Bills, Bills, Bills

If your bookkeeping is in order you should have ready admission to at to the lowest degree year'south worth of h2o bills, and two or three years worth is even more helpful if you have them. This may be 12 bills annually, or as few equally two or four. Some municipalities bill water usage monthly, some nib one time per quarter and others just twice a year.

Your water pecker volition generally be measured in cubic feet (or Ccf), then you need to know that one cubic pes is equal to 748 gallons. This information is useful considering it gives yous a starting point for a comparison with other businesses of a similar size as your ain. Equally a general betoken of reference, as of June 2012 the EPA found that the median per guest room usage in a hotel was 102 gallons of water per day. When you begin calculating where the water in your bill is actually being used (nosotros'll impact that shortly), knowing industry benchmarks helps make up one's mind if your usage is depression, higher than normal or just about average.

Additionally, changes in your bills might give you a clue as to hidden leaks or problems in your organization. If your usage has increased considerably from bill to bill and you can't attribute a jump in your hotel water usage to annihilation in particular, such as additional equipment or seasonal changes, this could indicate a leak somewhere on your property.

Primary Your Meters

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If you don't have admission to your bills, you lot tin can even so calculate your water usage by reading your water meter. This may expect complicated at first, but once yous know what all of the numbers mean you can hands calculate your facility'south overall usage rates. To gather current information, add the task of checking the water meter  to the list of scheduled maintenance your crew is already doing.

Y'all may also be able to use your water meter for leak detection. For this you lot need to discover your "h2o move indicator punch" aka "leak dial." The leak punch is normally either asterisk or triangle shaped. This examination will simply work if yous can be sure that none of the water in your facility is running, which is why this is simpler for homeowners to accomplish. But it might be feasible if you own a small hotel or close for business at whatsoever time – mayhap on a seasonal ground. Essentially, if the leak punch is moving in that location is a menses of water somewhere inside your building. So if y'all can be sure that everything is turned off and your dial is still turning, you know yous take a leak somewhere.

Understand The Flow

In one case you have an idea of your usage rates you desire to dig deeper to detect out where that lump sum of water is actually flowing. From there, you lot can movement on to deciding how to conserve h2o. To practice that, you need usage information from each and every fixture and apparatus in your hotel that uses water. Here's list to become you started:

• Sinks
• Faucets
• Showers
• Toilets
• Dishwashers
• Washing Machines
• Water ice Machines
• Cooling Towers (part of your HVAC System)

For faucets and showerheads you lot need to know the rate of flow (gallons per infinitesimal or gpm), for toilets you need the amount of gallons/flush, for dishwashers you'll demand the gallons per rack rating (GPR), and for washing machines y'all demand to know how many gallons of water are used per load. Consider that although you may have 200 toilets, sinks and showerheads in each of your hotel rooms, the chances are high that many of them have the same fixtures installed. If you have documentation for your equipment or the brand and model, you lot tin can easily detect the usage per rack or load.

If you lot have the resources, it might brand sense to appoint a staff person to this chore. Cull someone who is numbers savvy and has a passion for reducing, reusing and recycling. The more interested they are in conserving our World's natural resources, the better!

The reason for doing this is simple: knowledge is power. You tin't understand what needs to exist upgraded, improved or inverse if you don't know where the bug lie. Knowing what uses the most water in your hotel is the first pace to becoming more efficient. Your restrooms, kitchens, laundry operations and landscaping consume more water than any other area. Luckily, at that place are plenty of solutions, and we're here to help!

Tips For Hotel Restrooms (Public & Domestic)

If y'all were under the supposition that your pool and jacuzzi were sucking upwards your water dollars, think over again. Pools usually account for just 1% of a hotel's overall water usage. Restrooms are the number ane culprit when it comes to hotel water usage, claiming a whopping 30% of full h2o utilize. Luckily, this is ane place where changes can easily exist made, merely past reducing the flow from showerheads and faucets, forth with the gallons flushed down those toilet drains.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

This is a great example of why you lot need to know your rates of flow and gallons used. Allow's say your toilets are two or three decades old, and they use between three and seven gallons of water every time they are flushed. Installing a WaterSense model will reduce that usage to ane.28 gallons/flush. You can probably imagine how rapidly a water savings of betwixt fifty and 500 percentage would affect your bottom line, and how chop-chop those toilets could pay for themselves.

Like examples tin be made with shower heads and sinks. If your showers were installed pre 1992, you might be looking at a flow of five.5 gpm. Now, you can get a shower head with a period rate of ii.5 gpm. Multiply that by 100 rooms and you've got a significant daily savings.

To recap, hither's a bulleted listing of means to conserve water in your restrooms for ultimate reduction and maximum savings:

• Low period and high efficiency toilets volition save you money immediately. REMEMBER: Dual-flush toilets should be equipped with posted instructions so that everyone understands how to use them!
• Have sink aerators installed; these reduce the flow of water by ane.five gallons/minute.
• Install showerheads that regulate flow; 2.5 gallons/infinitesimal or less will not bother your guests, while saving yous big fourth dimension.
• Install motion activated sensors for hotel sinks and restroom facilities. This not but controls the amount of time h2o is used, just your guests will appreciate hands-complimentary options.
• Install timers in your hotel showers. This is a gentle reminder to guests to be witting of water conservation.
• Many urinals are no-affluent, only there are new energy efficient models on the market which may provide a more pleasant user feel.

Tips For Your Hotel Kitchen

If your hotel has a kitchen, at that place are likely two main areas where y'all can make reductions in your water usage and relieve money over time: upgrading appliances and educating staff.

Consider investigating possible rebates, revenue enhancement breaks or other incentives may exist offered for purchasing ENERGY STAR® rated equipment. Energy efficient equipment can go a long way in reducing usage. The average commercial dishwasher uses roughly four gallons of h2o per rack (GPR), while energy efficient models can bring that number well below a gallon per rack. The official requirements for a commercial dishwasher to be considered for an ENERGY STAR® rating can be found here, if you're interested.

Water ice machines, which might be in your kitchen also every bit other places around your hotel, are another big offender when it comes to inefficient h2o usage. This is because ice machines with water cooling refrigeration units apply lots of h2o simply to absurd – much more h2o than is actually used to make ice. The amounts of energy and water vary widely with each unit, just it's likely that betwixt 34% and 95% of water used in these machines is simply going down the drain after it's used for cooling.

The alternative choice is air cooled refrigeration units, which are much more h2o efficient. Previously, these machines were often less energy efficient that water cooled machines, but current free energy efficient technology ways you tin have an air cooled refrigeration unit that wastes neither water nor energy.

Don't forget well-nigh the human element to water usage reduction in your kitchen – namely your staff. While most of u.s.a. accept an didactics in bones conservation, your staff might not be aware of how much their h2o usage is costing your business. Information technology'southward imperative that you make it clear that water is a metered utility – merely like electricity or natural gas – and should exist treated as such. Don't be agape to educate them on ways to conserve h2o!

Do your kitchen staff do any of the post-obit?

• Washing produce under a constant stream of running h2o.
• Running half-total loads in your dishwasher.
• Keeping the water running while cleaning surfaces or dishes.

If aye, you lot have plenty of opportunity to reduce water usage in your hotel kitchen! Hither's our comprehensive listing of actions to accept in the kitchen:

• Upgrade to Energy STAR® rated equipment. This alone volition reduce water usage by approximately ten%.
• Install sink aerators to reduce the flow of water to 2.five gallons/minute or less.
• Install pedal operated faucets. This will reduce the ability for staff to turn on a faucet and walk abroad while leaving it running.
• Turn off continuous menstruation water streams when not in immediate employ.
• Presoak dishes.
• Only run fully loaded dish racks through the washer.
• Defrost nutrient in refrigerators instead of nether running water. With just a scrap of foresight, you volition salve thousands of gallons/year by eliminating this unnecessary price.
• Wash vegetables in water basins rather than under running water.
• Fix leaky water lines immediately.
• Educate your staff well-nigh h2o usage and encourage them to be witting of how they apply water.
• Install food traps or compost nutrient waste material, rather than automatically and excessively using your garbage disposal which requires running water to piece of work properly.

(Bank check out 11 Super-Elementary Tips for Reducing Restaurant Water Costs for more than water-saving tips!)

Tips For Hotel Laundry Operations

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Subsequently restrooms, laundry operations are the 2nd biggest consumer of water in your hotel, clocking in at an average of 16% of overall usage. One great way to cutting down on loads of laundry being implemented in hotels everywhere is to modify your practice from daily washing of sheets and towels to every other or every third day. Mosts guests to your hotel probably don't slumber in freshly laundered sheets each and every night of the calendar week, and won't expect to do so at your hotel either – especially if information technology'south in the name of water conservation. If properly implemented, a long weekend stay can become from daily washes of sheets and towels to simply once per room per stay. And for bonus savings – less frequent washings can as well lead to less frequent replacement of linens and towels!

Water and wastewater account for more than than fifty% of the full operating costs in a typical commercial laundry. An upgrade that can actually make a divergence in your laundry operations, is to invest in either a "tunnel washer" or a "washer-extractor".

A washer-extractor frequently includes a h2o recycling option, meaning the h2o used in the rinse wheel is stored inside the machine for use in the subsequent launder cycle. Machines without this capacity tin can be retrofitted with a recycling unit.

Tunnel washers operate much differently than normal washing machines, containing long chambers that the laundry is slowly pushed through. These units, though very expensive are highly efficient, using betwixt ⅔ and ½ the amount of washer-extractors.

If you lot can't make the switch to new machines now, go on the following two tips in mind:

• Just wash full loads of laundry.
• Reduce detergent and water use by installing ozone systems.

Tips For Hotel Landscaping

Landscaping is number three on the list of Big Water Users, generally making up an average of 14% of  hotel water usage. Oft water is wasted in landscape architecture but due to a lack of knowledge about irrigation systems and horticultural practices.

For instance, y'all're probably familiar with overhead sprinklers for irrigation, simply have you heard of a product called baste tape? Exchanging your overhead sprinklers for drip irrigation can relieve you lot h2o because while a sprinkler volition broadcast water all over the place, baste record and drip irrigation volition concentrate a steady catamenia of h2o onto simply the plantings of your choosing. Just place the baste tape tubing on exactly what you desire watered, turn information technology on and walk away – certain that but your plants are being watered and not your asphalt driveway.

Another great innovation in irrigation are rain sensors for your sprinklers. Never once more will you have the frustrating experience of looking out the window in a downpour but to see your timed sprinklers come up on, adding your purchased h2o to the gratis stuff falling from the heaven. Rain sensors tell your sprinklers that the work is beingness done for them and they tin have a break for the fourth dimension being.

Unless you lot accept water-loving plants in a hot and dry landscape, plants and shrubs don't need to be watered every day. The exception to this rule is new plantings, which may need a daily watering for the beginning week or so. Follow these and save on water and overall costs!

• Water your hotel mural 2 to three times a week instead of every day.
• Remove weeds and other unwanted plants to preserve water for your desired landscape.
• Do non over-fertilize or over-prune plants to avoid overstimulated growth.
• Avoid hosing down hotel sidewalks, parking lots and driveways, unless absolutely necessary.
• Install soil moisture override systems and timers on hotel sprinkler systems.
• Fourth dimension watering when evaporation is the lowest: early on morning or evenings are the fundamental.
• Make sure irrigation equipment applies water evenly; if it's watering annihilation other than the lawn and garden, it'south wasting your money.
• Use mulch effectually plants to help avoid evaporation and keep weeds to a minimum.
• Install drip irrigation instead of sprinkler systems.
• Install rain sensors on your sprinkler system so you lot don't stop upwards watering in the rain!
• Install pelting barrels or other water catchment systems to grab h2o as it falls from the sky for free for later utilize in mural watering.

A Few More Winning Water Suggestions

• Sweep floors whenever possible to clean them. Avoid washing down sidewalks and surfaces with hoses, which waste a lot of h2o in this awarding.
• Consider switching your mopping organisation to the water broom, a new engineering that saves water while delivering maximum cleaning power.
• Conduct an audit of your housecleaning staff and their procedures and keep an center out for excessive water usage during cleaning.
• Discourage water-wasting practices in the housekeeping staff, like using the bathtub as a mopping station.
• Switch your hotel'southward carpeting cleaning process from moisture to dry out.
• Have windows cleaned on an as-needed footing, as opposed to a set up schedule which may exist unnecessary.
• Consider switching any water cooled equipment to air cooled – in addition to your ice machines this could include air compressors and refer condensers.

Greywater for Great Gains

Installing greywater systems is a big commitment, simply once in place is probably also the single biggest style to recycle potable h2o. Greywater uses filtration systems to turn the water used for laundry, dishes and bathing into h2o that tin exist used to affluent toilets and irrigate your landscaping. Nosotros may not think that water can be used twice, but actually – why shouldn't the water yous showered in exist used to flush a toilet? With the correct mechanisms in place, greywater can be an astonishing mode to reduce water usage. If y'all're prepare to have your h2o reduction to the side by side level, look into installing a greywater system in your hotel.

You're Off to a Bully Start!

At present that you have a better understanding of how to save money with your hotel water usage, it's fourth dimension to get to work. The longer you wait to begin implementing your hotel regulatory procedures and h2o saving equipment, the longer y'all're going to keep flushing money down the drain.

You're in the hotel business to make money. Taking control of how effectively and efficiently your hotel uses water directly affects how much coin your hotel makes every year. Making money isn't just nearly renting more rooms, it's also most reducing your hotel expenses. Yous simply tin can't afford to keep ignoring your water usage, non merely for your profit margin, but also for the environs. Try these h2o saving tips today!

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Featured image courtesy of Flickr user Steve Johnson. Licensed under CC by 2.0.
All images in post licensed under CC0 Public Domain.

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