cost is ... water facility operations

Hello Justin,

I really appreciated your article, Bottom Lines Are Putting Water Efficiency In Spotlight” posted on MyFacilitiesnet.com

What is often overlooked, however, is the good news about water--or at least water conservation. It might come as a surprise to your readers that Los Angeles is actually using less water today than it was 31 years ago. This is true even though the city's population has increased by nearly a million people since 1979.

Similarly, Phoenix, AZ, is using “less water today than it was a decade ago and less per capita than two decades ago,” says Mayor Phil Gordon. And, the mayor adds, this reduction has been achieved despite the fact that “our population has grown by more than a million people in the past decade.”

What these cities have done is what you have suggested: they have conducted water audits, fixed leaks, replaced water-hungry fixtures with water-conserving ones, and taken a number of very practical steps to use water more wisely.

One more thing businesses and now even some residences in these cities have done is swapped out conventional urinals with fixtures that use no water at all. It has been widely reported that one urinal can use as much as 40,000 gallons of water per year. Multiply that by hundreds of urinals and you quickly see that millions of gallons of potable, usable water could be saved each year by making this one fixture change.

And yes, cost is indeed a factor and a driving force. A study conducted by the state of Massachusetts found that if no-water urinal systems were installed in a facility with 1,000 male workers, 1.6 million gallons of water could be saved annually--equaling a cost savings of more than $21,000 annually in water and sewer costs (based on June 2008 U.S. charges).

It is true that we have a long way to go, but a least we know water conservation is something that can be accomplished. This is demonstrated conclusively by the examples set forth by the two cities mentioned earlier. And this important resource conservation goes hand in hand with cost savings, which can be substantial.

Thank you,

Klaus Reichardt

Founder and CEO  www.waterless.com