Water

Every business can reduce the amount of water it consumes, and with the threat of bushfires and drought this summer, there’s plenty of reasons to take action. By making a few simple changes your business can save water, which means reducing your water bill and your impact on the environment.

10 tips for saving water:

1. Encourage staff to report leaks and get them fixed promptly. A slow dripping tap can waste more than 2000 litres a month.
   
   
2. Monitor your water meter out-of-hours to check for water wastage and leaks. This helped one Victorian business reduce their water usage by over 40%.
   
   
3. Complete a water audit of your workplace to identify the areas, equipment and appliances that are particularly water-hungry.
   
   
4. Install flow restrictors (approximately $6) on all bathroom, kitchen and outdoor taps to reduce the flow rate to 6 - 9 litres per minute.
   
   
5. Upgrade to water efficient taps, showers, appliances and equipment. Look for Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme (WELS) ratings of 4 or higher.
   
   
6. Upgrade single flush toilets (use 9-11 litres per flush) to new dual flush toilets which use as little as 3 litres for a half flush and 4.5 litres for a full. Or reduce your single flush toilet water usage by installing a cistern weight (approximately $12) or a water displacement bag (approximately $6); this can save up to 10,000 litres a year.
   
   
7. Encourage staff to drink tap water or install a drinking water filter instead of buying bottled water. Bottled water has a much higher carbon and water footprint than tap water and also costs 200 - 10,000 times more.
   
   
8. Use a broom and mop to clean floors rather than a hose, and waterless car wash products to clean your vehicles.
   
   
9. Install rainwater tanks to water gardens, flush toilets and use in other processes specific to your business operations.
   
   
10. Recycle and treat water from dishwashers, washing machines, hand washing and wash down areas for re-use in toilets, gardens and other processes.

Resources

• Do a water assessment of your business
  
• Best Practice Water Consumption by Industry

The content on this page has been provided by Grow Me The Money, a program run by VECCI, a leader in delivering sustainability services and supporting small to medium businesses within Victoria. www.growmethemoney.com.au