Download and use this checklist to implement quick wins that will help in reducing water usage, make your business more resource efficient, and save money. 

These efficiency methods can provide immediate cost and water savings without major capital investments. By implementing a combination of these strategies and maintaining a commitment to water conservation, organizations can make meaningful progress towards reducing their consumption and associated costs.

• Fix Leaks: Regularly inspect your facility for leaks in pipes, valves, and equipment. Fixing leaks promptly can prevent significant water wastage and is often a low-cost solution.
• Employee Awareness: Educate your staff about the importance of water conservation and encourage them to report any leaks or wasteful practices they observe.
• Process Optimization: Analyze your manufacturing processes to identify any steps where water is used excessively. Adjust processes to minimize water consumption while maintaining product quality.
• Adjust Water Pressure: Reduce water pressure in certain areas of your facility, such as restrooms and non-production areas, where high pressure isn't necessary.
• Reusing Process Water: Implement closed-loop systems to capture and reuse process water. This can be especially effective in operations that use water for cooling or cleaning.
• Install Flow Restrictors: Install flow restrictors on faucets and showers in restrooms and break areas to limit water flow without compromising user experience.
• Timing Devices: Use automatic timing devices on faucets and showers to ensure they turn off after a set period, preventing water from being left running.
• Collect Rainwater: If feasible, install rainwater harvesting systems to capture and store rainwater for non-potable uses within your facility, such as landscape irrigation or cooling.
• Optimize Cooling Towers: Cooling towers can be water-intensive. Regular maintenance and optimizing the cycles of concentration can reduce water use in these systems.
• Recycle Rinse Water: In processes that involve rinsing, consider recycling and reusing rinse water. Filtration systems can help remove contaminants for reuse.
• Evaluate Cleaning Procedures: Review your cleaning methods to minimize water use. High-pressure, low-flow cleaning equipment can be more efficient.
• Supplier Collaboration: Work with suppliers to source materials that require less water during production, helping to reduce your water footprint indirectly.
• Regular Maintenance: Maintain water-using equipment, such as boilers and cooling systems, to ensure they operate efficiently and don't waste water.
• Monitor Water Usage: Install water meters to monitor usage closely. Tracking consumption patterns can reveal inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement.

Optimization, or making the most of your current water uses, is an easy way to help reduce your overall consumption. This means ensuring that where water is used on site, efforts have been made to minimize this use. Here are some examples:

• Addressing leaks: Leaks can be a significant source of wastewater on a site and undertaking a leak detection and reporting campaign can help to identify and enable repairs to be undertaken. Taking water readings last thing at night before the last employee leaves and again first thing in the morning can be used to identify water use when the site is not in use and may suggest the presence of leaks.

• Tap aerators: Aerated taps can reduce the quantity of water within the flow by replacing some of it with air bubbles. These can be fitted in to taps as well as within showers with little to no impact upon the users.
• Foam soap: Foam based soaps are easier to wash off than their more liquid counterparts and can limit the amount of water required to wash them off. In facilities with a significant number of wash stations or hospitality-based sites, this can be an easy and quick to implement solution.
• Dry cleaning: Compared to wet washing of materials, dry cleaning can reduce your water demand further. However, to help minimize other environmental impacts it is recommended that high impact chemicals commonly used within dry cleaning such as perc are avoided.

Installing controls to existing equipment can be another avenue to driving water savings and can be implemented on both process equipment using water as well as taps in bathrooms and kitchens.

• Flush sensors: These can be utilized for urinals and toilets to reduce the required quantities of water for flushing. By replacing timer based flushing mechanisms they can ensure that unnecessary flushing does not occur.
• Reducing water volume: Where water is used within processes such as cleaning or cooling within manufacturing and industrial settings, controls to limit the quantity of required water to the necessary minimum can be installed to ensure only the required levels of water are utilized.

Ensuring that equipment is replaced with upgraded variants or models that require less water to deliver the same function at the end of their service life should be considered to ensure the gradual shift to more sustainable operations. This may require engagement with your facilities management or procurement teams to ensure the required standards and product specifications are highlighted when sourcing replacements.

• Equipment upgrades: Consider investing in water-efficient equipment and machinery, especially machinery that is used regularly, or that requires a high volume of water. Modern technologies often consume significantly less water than older counterparts, which leads to immediate an ongoing water and cost savings.
• Low flush cisterns: These are designed to utilize significantly less water than older toilet designs and are relatively low cost to implement. They often come with a duel flush function to provide a higher flow and pressure flush option in addition to the low flush option.
• Percussion taps: This style of tap stops the flow of water after a short time and requires the button/handle to be depressed again to reactivate the flow of water. This prevents the issue of water wastage from taps being left running unnecessarily and by helping to use less through the set flow time.

• Water efficient dishwashers: Water efficient dishwashers can deliver both energy savings through a reduction in the required hot water and duration of cycles as well as in the quantities of water consumed within the system. When considering any upgrades always ensure they are sized for purpose to avoid frequently underfilling prior to commencing wash cycles.
• Drip irrigation: These systems are far more efficient than traditional sprinkler systems for agricultural and external area maintenance purposes. These can be coupled with soil moisture meters to ensure the systems is only operational as and when needed.

Reclaiming water for reuse on site can help reduce consumption by intercepting water prior to it leaving through plugs or drains and recirculating it for additional uses within the facility.

• Rainwater harvesting: This involves collecting rainwater prior to its loss via drains or draining into soil. This rainwater is drained into a piping system and transported to a storage tank, ideally via gravity, where it can then be filtered to remove any sediments prior to being reused. Sites with larger roof surface areas can particularly benefit from rainwater harvesting and systems can even be integrated to existing building features such as roof gutters and drainage systems.
• Grey water recycling: This involves reclaiming water already utilized and containing some suspended sediments and solids. This is different from black water, which contains hazards such as feces and urine which should not be recycled on-site. Grey water can be reutilized for cleaning or irrigation purposes, however, should not be used as a source of potable (drinkable) water.

Download this action plan to track your progress against water efficiency objectives.