Appendix 1 - Water Efficiency Checklists

Once you understand your expected costs throughout the year, it's time to determine opportunities for no-cost or low-cost water savings, as well as areas needing capital expenditures. Here's a checklist with ideas to help you save water and money:

Domestic

• Check all bathrooms regularly for leaks. In tank toilets, conduct dye leak tests.
• Install low-flow showerheads.
• Install low-flow faucet aerators at all sinks. When replacing, consider spring-loaded faucets.
• For tank-type toilets with 3.5-gallon or greater flush, install toilet dams or low-flow flapper valves to decrease consumption per flush. On flushometer-type toilets, check with a plumber to see if your valves have reversible conserving rings or if you can install a restrictor. Consider replacing toilets with 1.6-gallon ultra-low flow models.
• Do not run eye-wash stations and water fountains continuously.
• Check timing cycles and volumes for automatic water-flushing systems in urinals and toilets. Coordinate automatic systems with work hours so they don't run continuously.
• Audit kitchen, cafeteria, laundry, dishwashing, washdown areas and janitor closets.
• Audit research and laboratory areas.
• Educate people not to use toilets for garbage disposal.
• Develop an employee (or tenant) education program to increase awareness of the importance of water efficiency.

Landscaping

• Plan and design your landscape for the most efficient use by grouping plants with similar water needs.
• Decrease turf areas, keeping only those areas that are beneficially used for activities.
• Select drought-resistant ground covers.
• Landscape with indigenous/native plants. A list of these plants is available from the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service.
• Improve soil's water-holding capacity by adding organic materials.
• Mulch generously to retain moisture and reduce weeds.
• Irrigate efficiently and deeply to prevent run-off and evaporation.
• Time automated landscape watering systems for early morning or late evening use
• Consider installing a drip irrigation system.
• Water only as frequently as necessary. This is generally every third day in summer and less frequently in winter. The local Virginia Cooperative Extension also provides guidelines for watering.
• Don't water after rainfall; consider installing rain or soil moisture sensors to indicate when watering is necessary..
• Maintain your plants and gardens properly to keep them healthy.

Written commitment of your plan is critical to success. Following are basic elements to consider prior to implementation:

• Create an Organizational Policy Statement reflecting the support of upper management.
• Set goals. Be sure to use specific, measurable, and achievable goals. State the goal measurement (gallons, percentage, etc.), target date, area of facility, and action plan.
• Write an Action Plan. Outline each specific task and support each action with a cost/benefit analysis where applicable. State immediate actions which are no-cost or low-cost, actions requiring capital expenditure and actions requiring changes in water-use habits. Use current or proposed rates to calculate dollar benefit.
• Develop an Employee Awareness Program. Decide who will be responsible for plan implementation. Establish a water-efficiency committee with a responsible leader, or, in smaller facilities, one employee who will develop and implement the plan.
• Implement, evaluate and revise as necessary. A viable plan is flexible and evolving. Review it periodically and revise when necessary. The original plan should state when reviews take place and how revisions occur.

Employee awareness, understanding, and participation lead to commitment to a water-wise program. There are several ways to gain their commitment:

• Start your program with a letter to all employees from the head of the company CEO, president, owner, etc.showing full support of the concept of a plan.
• Consider establishing a water-efficiency committee to develop your plan.
• Use bulletins, newsletters and paycheck stuffers to communicate policies, programs, ideas, announcements, progress reports and special achievements.
• Hold meetings to communicate your water-efficiency plan and results.
• Promote a suggestion/incentive system and recognize people who have water-saving ideas. A suggestion program that rewards employees with a percentage of the first year's direct savings has proven to be a very successful motivational vehicle.
• Distribute water-efficiency booklets.
• Promote slogan and poster contests.
• Publicize national, regional and local water events to highlight water's importance.
• Two or three times a year, feature a water-efficiency display in common areas to highlight water-efficiency programs.
• Offer home water-saving devices to employees free or at cost. Sponsor demonstrations of these devices by suppliers.
• Post water-efficiency stickers and signs in bathrooms, kitchens, and cafeterias.
• Use audio-visual programs and use outside speakers for employee meetings.
• Send members of your water-efficiency team to community seminars.
• Circulate information about what others in your industry are doing to conserve water.
• State savings in relevant terms such as dollars, earnings per share, or annual consumption
• Establish a system for employees to notify the proper parties about leaks, dripping faucets, broken sprinklers or other occurrences of water waste.
• Place signs on your drought-tolerant landscape identifying plant types. Establish a public demonstration water-wise garden.
• Develop displays to place in public reception areas outlining your organization's water-efficiency policy.
• Publicize your water savings through a public relations program. Interview with local radio and TV stations, as well as newspapers, about your water-efficiency efforts.
• Maintain a library of equipment specifications. Ensure equipment is operating in accordance with the manufacturer's performance standards.
• Perform periodic research into new water-saving technology.
• Subscribe and make available water resource literature (U.S. Water News, Water Environment & Technology, etc.)

• Use dye-tablet tests to check tank toilets for leaks. Place the dye tablets (or use food coloring) in the toilet tank, wait a few minutes and see if the color appears in the bowl. If so, there is a leak. Toilet leaks can result in extensive water waste and cost, so repair leaks promptly.
• Install low-flow showerheads which use 2.5 gallons of water per minute or less.
• Retrofit faucets with aerators to reduce flows to 2 gallons per minute or less.
• Consider using metering faucets (which stay open a pre-set period), self-closing faucets (which close upon release of the knob), and automatic sensor-controlled faucets.
• Retrofit tank-type toilets with dams or water-filled plastic containers as displacement devices to reduce water volume per flush. (Do not use a brick, which crumbles.)
• Consider replacing existing (3.5-, 5- or 7-gallon) toilets with new low-flow models. These use only 1.6 gallons per flush or less.
• For toilets and urinals equipped with flush valves, retrofit them with insert orifices or replacement kits to reduce the volume of water used per flush.

To Begin...

• Prepare an inventory of each cooling tower you have, its cooling capacity, and the equipment or processes that it serves.
• Meter and record the amount of make-up water added to each tower, and the amount of blowdown water discharged from each tower.
• You may be able to have a credit for evaporation deducted from your sewerage bill, if you properly meter your cooling tower's water losses as described above. If you wish to receive this deduction, be sure to check with Water and Wastewater Departments in your community. Follow their instructions to set up your metering program in accordance with the departments' requirements.
• If you purchase chemicals for the treatment of the recirculating cooling tower water, have the chemical vendor explain the purpose and action of each chemical.
• Have your chemical vendor provide a written report of each service call with explanations of the meaning of each analysis performed, as well as the test results.
• Tell your chemical vendor that water conservation is a priority at your facility. Ask your vendor to tell you about alternative programs that could reduce the amount of water that is bled-off from the towers.

Water Efficiency Opportunities

• If you are using conventional water treatment, work with your chemical vendor to increase your cycles of concentration, thereby decreasing the amount of water bled off.
• Set up performance-based specifications, and request proposals from vendors for your facility's cooling-tower water treatment. Require vendors to commit to a predetermined minimum level of water efficiency. Have them provide projected annual water and chemical consumption costs.
• Consider incorporating sulfuric acid in your treatment program. This could enable you to reduce carbonate scale and achieve significantly higher cycles of concentration. If you use sulfuric acid, use proper safety precautions.
• Ozone is another alternative for cooling water treatment. Ozone can help remove dissolved minerals and act as a biocide. Again, use safety precautions.
• If available, use reclaimed water as a source of cooling tower make-up water. Be sure the water is sufficiently clean for use in your system.
• Reuse blowdown for lower-grade non-potable uses.

Evaporative Coolers

• Be sure your coolers have pumps to recirculate the water through them.
• Check to make sure you are not bleeding off an excessive amount of water. For a typical small cooler, anything more than a few gallons per hour may be excessive.
• Pipe the bleed-off from your coolers to help water a landscaped area.

Once-Through Cooling

• Stop all uses of water for once-through or "single-pass" cooling, unless you can reuse the water for another application.
• Consider replacing water-cooled equipment with air-cooled models.
• Connect to a recirculating cooling water loop (such as the plant-chilled water system) instead of using once-through cooling.

• Check your dishwasher to be sure that it is not using an excessive flow of water. Experiment with a modest reduction (about 10 percent) in the flow rate of water to your dishwasher to see if any problems result. If no problems occur, continue to operate at the reduced-flow rate. Consult with the equipment manufacturer or your service contractor before making major changes.
• Reuse wastewater from your dishwasher for a low-grade purpose such as prewashing, or in garbage disposals.
• Be sure the flow of water through the dishwasher stops when the flow of items being washed stops.
• Reduce the amount of fresh water used for prewashing before the dishwasher.
• Use wastewater from other kitchen operations (such as the dishwasher) for garbage disposal and trash-trough flushing.
• Be sure that the flow of water through the garbage disposal stops when the disposal motor stops. Many disposals have two water-supply lines, one to the bowl and one to the grinding chamber. Be sure to check both.
• Consider reducing use of garbage disposals and disposing of wastes by other means. This may also reduce maintenance labor and cost.
• Consider replacing garbage disposals with garbage strainers which use less water.
• Experiment by gradually reducing the flow rate of water through the disposal. If no problems arise, continue to operate at the reduced flow rate.
• End use of once-through ("single-pass") cooling of ice-making machines. Consider replacing water-cooled units with air-cooled models, or supply cooling water for the ice-maker from the plant's recirculating chilled water system. Otherwise, reuse the cooling water for some other purpose, such as landscape watering.
• Repair leaks in steam, hot water, and cold water lines.
• Avoid thawing frozen foods with running water. Thaw in the refrigerator or defrost in microwave oven.

X-Ray Processing

• Equip x-ray processors with shut-off valves to stop the flow of water when processing is not taking place.
• Reduce the flow rate of water through the processors to the minimum consistent with quality performance. Many hospitals' x-ray processors use a higher flow rate than is necessary. Often a flow rate of two gallons per minute or less is sufficient.

Laboratories

• Avoid running water for aspiration of liquids or other purposes.
• Replace single-pass water-cooling of instrumentation or analyzers; supply this from the plant's chilled water system.

• Consider the use of continuous-batch washers for new laundries or major expansions of existing laundry operations.
• Explore the potential for use of laundry water reclamation systems in your facility.
• Be sure to launder full loads only.
• Work with your laundry chemical supplier to reduce water consumption. Inform your chemical supplier that water conservation is a priority in your laundry operations.

• Plan and design your landscape for the most efficient use by grouping plants with similar water needs.
• Decrease turf areas, keeping only those areas that are beneficially used for activities.
• Select drought-resistant ground covers.
• Landscape with indigenous/native plants. A list of these plants is available from the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service.
• Improve soil's water-holding capacity by adding organic materials.
• Mulch generously to retain moisture and reduce weeds.
• Irrigate efficiently and deeply to prevent run-off and evaporation.
• Time automated landscape watering systems for early morning or late evening use
• Consider installing a drip irrigation system.
• Water only as frequently as necessary. This is generally every third day in summer and less frequently in winter. The local Virginia Cooperative Extension also provides guidelines for watering.
• Don't water after rainfall; consider installing rain or soil moisture sensors to indicate when watering is necessary..
• Maintain your plants and gardens properly to keep them healthy.